Hacker of the Century
by BehindThisFacade15
Summary: This is an AU story: Sakura Haruno's family has been recently killed by an unknown perpetrator. Now, living with her Aunt and cousin, Karin, Sakura decides she wants to make a difference: use her hacking skills to help the police catch criminals. And, of course, avenge her family.
1. Prologue

_**I will have all my Author's notes in Bold and Italics at the top and bottom of the story portions.**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, no matter how much I want to.**_

She wasn't exactly sure how everything started. Sakura had always been obsessed with anything electronic, even more so than her older brother. While other girls were playing with dolls, she was hacking minecraft and jail breaking her brother's IPAD for him.

Sakura was fairly good with computers. By the age of twelve she had her own laptop under the condition that her parents could search her internet history whenever they wanted to. So the first thing she learned was to cover her tracks, and she became very adept at it. At thirteen she was memorizing computer codes and doing minor hacking using programs downloaded on the sly. She learned to ghost through systems like a shadow, always just a touch away from capture. But of course she never was.

The papers never picked up on the forming of a master hacker. The companies that felt her wrath whispered stories of her capers but could only watch as she found ways into their systems.

At fifteen, Sakura was not only going to be the youngest junior at Konoha High, but she was also the world's most infamous hacker. She's decided on the hacker handle 'Ryuu', meaning Dragon. And from there she had hacked into supposedly impregnable systems to prove the title faulty.

And then she had that one pivotal moment that changed everything.

The summer before junior year, Sakura's family was murdered. She walked in after a day spent at Ino's and found them stabbed to death in the living room. That was the day she decided to change the horrible fate the world had scalded onto her back. The day she promised herself that she would make a difference in the world so that no one else would have to come home to their family lying in pools of blood.

That day, Sakura became the world's greatest hacker.


	2. Chapter 1

_**Hi guys! I know the prologue is a bit cheesy, but I can always do flashbacks later to explain what Sakura saw a bit better. If you're reading this you did not decide to abandon the story after the prologue... YAY! Enjoy!**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto :(**_

_**~Façade-sama**_

Sakura shoved her laptop into her bag and slung it half-hazardly over one shoulder. A scowl formed on her lips as her cousin, Karin, walked into the kitchen in search of food. She gave Sakura a distasteful glance before popping some bread in the toaster.

"Are you sure you really want to eat that?" Sakura stated coldly. "You could get fat from the toast."

Karin growled at her before glancing at the still-cooking bread in the toaster. "Not everyone eats like a pig, Sakura." She snorted as she looked at the pinkette's choice in food: three eggs and a stack of bacon formed into an uncanny sculpture of the leaning tower of Pisa. "And the way you play with your food is gross!"

"I suppose someone such as yourself could never understand the art of arranging food into historical architecture," Sakura remarked as she shoved an entire fried egg into her mouth. She didn't care about table manners anymore. Everything had become a sort of blur after her family had died. _Murdered._ She reminded herself.

The toast popped out and Karin grabbed it from the toaster, frowning to herself as she realized how hot it had become. "Yeah, well, once a freak always a freak, cousin," she said as she left the kitchen.

"At least I'm not a whore," Sakura murmured to herself after Karin had left. Her cousin really needed to get a clue and realize that the way she dressed was horrid. And her red hair was done in an absurd style that looked as if a she had slept on one side and kept it that way. Sakura appreciated the skinny jeans and hoodie look more than the dreadfully short skirt and belly shirts combo. _And it's way more comfy. _ She thought, shoveling the rest of her meal into her mouth.

She placed the dishes into the dishwasher before running out the door. With some of the inheritance left from her parents she had gotten a car. Nothing new that would stand out, just a small, dark blue 2008 Honda Accord. Karin had been delighted that she hadn't had to share the red Mercury Sable with her cousin, and had said nothing when the pinkette had bought the car without her aunt's consent.

Sakura hopped in and threw her bag into the passenger's seat. With a small glance in the rearview mirror to make sure her cousin wouldn't get ran over, she pulled out onto the street and headed toward Konoha High.

To be honest, school was just too _easy_ for the short, pink-haired girl. She breezed through AP World History, AP English, and French III – totally zoning out to the droning of her first three teachers. The only thing different from sophomore year was the constant staring she garnered in the hallways. It seemed as if everyone at Konoha High knew what had happened to her family.

**Let me punch 'em!**

_No, Inner, that would incite a very bad track record for me._

Inner pouted as Sakura continued on her way to lunch. She passed by a few seniors giving her appraising looks. Karin and her posse barely acknowledged her existence as she went by them. _And thank goodness for that. _ She thought. _At least she doesn't breathe down my neck like she did before. _

Once she reached the lunch table her group of friends had claimed as 'theirs' Sakura slumped and pulled out her laptop. Usually she didn't hack at school, but this day needed a pick-me-up. And no one from her group of friends had arrived yet anyway, so why the hell not?

**This school has crap network security.**

_I know! It's way too easy to bypass the firewalls._

**For us at least. That little freshman last year couldn't hack his own way out of a paper bag.**

Sakura didn't answer as she flew past the school security. From there she accessed her hacking account. _Two alerts. _She saw quickly. One was from a hacking friend of hers, and the other was an alert on a news story that had yet to go viral. She clicked on the latter in anticipation.

The page loaded to show a murder investigation taking place in downtown Konoha. Sakura leaded forward and observed the following story:

'_Sakamoto Yahiko was found dead this morning in his apartment. Evidence shows that Sakamoto-san was shot in the head and abdomen. Police are not releasing any more information on the subject other than the culprit has not been found. Chief Policeman Uchiha Fugaku has yet to comment on this murder that has continued the line of murders started a few weeks ago. It follows the same criteria of the Haruno murder case that occurred less than a month prior…'_

**So the psycho killed again! **Inner raged.

_Seems the bastard needs to be taught a lesson._

**The question still remains on how to find him. You finally ready to try?**

_I'm done grieving. It's time the guy paid for his actions._

**How are you going to do it?**

_Well, as the police probably already know, Konoha has a lot of security cameras._

**And, what do the police not know? They would have already caught the guy if they just used the cameras.**

_The police don't have full access to the CIA's facial recognition software._

**You evil little hacker.**

Sakura slammed her computer closed as two of her friends reached the spot. Naruto gave a sheepish grin as he and Sasuke sat down across from her. "Sorry, Sakura-chan. Teme and I were stopped by Kakashi-sensei after class."

"You tried to steal his porn books again didn't you, Naruto?" Sakura asked her friend accusingly.

"It's not his fault he was born a baka." The voice of Ino interrupted the conversation. She sat down beside Sakura and began to eat a very ripe apple. "Don't look at me like that, you try that trick on Kakashi-sensei every year."

"Dobe, he always expects it." Sasuke chimed in.

Neji and his girlfriend, Tenten, sat down near the end of the table. Hinata sat next to Naruto on the opposite end. "Oi! Where's Gaara?" Naruto asked the entirety of the group gathered at the 'spot' so far.

Said boy trudged over to take the last empty seat on Sakura's left, across from Hinata. "Right here, Naruto," he grumbled before zoning out completely.

Sakura ate in silence, contemplating the death that occurred just like her family's had. She only half listened to the exuberant conversations of Naruto and whoever else talked with the blond-haired boy. He tried several times to pull her into the conversation, but he failed.

"Hey! Sakura-chan, lunch is over!" Naruto's voice melted into the musings of one Haruno Sakura. She sighed after realizing she had not even begun to eat, and followed her friends into the melee of crowds that now rushed to their classes. Sakura had advanced computer sciences with Asuma-sensei next. It was the one class in junior year she looked forward to, but today she wondered if it would even be able to make her smile.

"Sakura," Shikamaru greeted as she entered the class.

"Hello, Shikamaru," she answered back with a small grin. His eyebrows rose as if to say: 'Are you okay?' Sakura nodded to his silent inquiry and sat down beside him. This day was already taking a toll on her, and it was only the first one of the week! She buried her head in her arms to shield herself from the world for a few brief seconds.

"Troublesome," Shikamaru said. "Sakura, you look like hell." He grimaced as his own remark sounded a bit more callous than he meant it to. The expected slap on the head never came. This in itself made the Nara more concerned.

"I'm fine Shikamaru," she intoned. "Just tired out." Her head lifted to give a reassuring smile to the boy next to her.

"Don't smile if you don't want to, Sakura."

Her smile wavered into a thin line at the Nara's perceptive mind. She nodded numbly before setting her head in her hands and waiting for the day to end.

It seemed to drag along, and Sakura's empty stomach didn't help matters. She waited all through Biology, and Psychology, and Art for the bell to ring. The first day of any school year is always the same, boring, repetitive crap. 'Hello class, I'm [insert name here]-sensei. I will be teaching you [insert class here] for the rest of the [insert either semester or year here]. Now, I need this syllabus signed by either a parent or guardian.'

_And sometimes the classes don't even have a syllabus._

**Thank goodness for that. I mean, imagine having to have a syllabus signed in every single class!**

Sakura shivered at the notion as she got into her car. _First things first, that guy who killed my parents is going to pay!_

**Hell yeah! Depressed Sakura is gone!**

Sakura twitched at her Inner's comment. But she started her car anyway and drove to a nearby coffee shop. _Not like I want to go home anyway. Aunt Yuki and Karin are still pissed that I'm inheriting the family business and not them. It's not my fault they can't manage money at all. _

**They're just mad that Grandma likes us better.**

The Haruno manufacturing company was small, but it was started by Sakura's late grandfather. Currently it was being run by her grandma, and one day it would become hers. Originally her older brother was supposed to inherit, but, well, that could no longer happen.

Sakura ordered a vanilla late with extra pumps of vanilla and a double shot of coffee. After a day like she had had it was no wonder she was tired beyond belief. She popped her headphones into her ears and plugged them into her computer, choosing an inconspicuous spot at a back corner table just outside the sightline of the surveillance camera on the ceiling. And then she logged on.

The computer had been her life even before the deaths of her family members. Afterwards it was her everything. She could hack when she felt sad, mad, or just plain pissed. When Karin tried to mess with her, Sakura hacked her phone and had it send horrid texts to Sasuke, Karin's crush, every hour on the hour for a week. _It was really funny watching Karin freak out as her phone sent those. _Sakura snickered to herself as she got to work.

_Police files first, just to see if they have any suspects in this case so far._

**And don't ignore the coffee, girl! I don't want to drink it cold!**

_Shut up._

Sakura obliged by taking a sip of her coffee, then she got to work. Music played in the background as she scanned the Konoha police files with her special software. When nothing came up in the public records, she dug a little deeper.

**I think hacking the police chief's computer is a crime.**

_Shove off Inner._

Sakura sifted through the files that Mr. Uchiha left on his personal laptop. There were several documents pertaining to the Haruno murder investigation, and Sakura uploaded them to her computer, saving them on the hard drive, before delving even deeper.

_They haven't even looked at the street cameras yet!_

**That murder was recent, you know. Like, this morning recent.**

_I guess I'll do that myself then, Inner. Hacking cameras takes a lot though. First I have to find the network used to monitor them from, and then I have to hack it._

**I don't think that's your biggest problem right now.**

_What do you mean?_

**Someone's trying to hack your computer.**

_Shit._

Sakura worked vigorously, falling into the codes of the computer and the tricks she had learned when going up against hackers half decent. When the hacker stopped his attack, she continued hers, taking over the laptop of the police chief just to ensure her safety.

A word document came up on the chief's screen. She watched with interest as the other hacker began the conversation.

_**(A/N: Bold is the other hacker, italics is Sakura.)**_

**What are you doing in my father's computer?**

Sakura scoffed at the boldness of the guy. Yes, guy, she could see him via the web cam on the laptop. Of course, her identity was hidden, as always.

And then she processed what he had just typed. The son of the Chief? Sasuke did mention he had a brother one time when they inquired about his life. She thought a moment about the name. Sasuke had said it once, what was it?

_You must be the famous Uchiha Itachi._

Sakura watched as Itachi's eyes widened a fraction. After dealing with Sasuke for most of her life she was used to the subtle motions of surprise from an Uchiha.

**How do you know my name? And what were you doing in my father's laptop?**

_I have what I need so I see no reason to answer you._

**Who are you?**

Sakura drew a sharp breath at his words. Should she tell him? Ah, why the hell not.

_I go by the name Ryuu, when I'm on the internet._

**Ryuu. If you are who you say you are then I am impressed.**

_So you have heard of me._

**Mostly just rumors.**

_Well, rumors sometimes do start with a grain of truth. Goodbye, Uchiha Itachi. I will be in touch._

Sakura pulled her influence from the Chief's laptop, swiftly covering any and all tracks made by her hacking in the process.

**Are you sure that was wise? **Inner asked.

_Who cares? It's done now, and I already have the reports on my family's autopsies. The next thing to do would be to hack the security camera's near Sakamoto Yahiko's apartments for the times that correspond with his death._

**You do realize the information hasn't been released yet, and it wasn't even on the Chief's computer.**

_Shit._

**You say that a lot.**

_Shove it, Inner. I need to hack._

* * *

**_Hello Again, I'm just saying thanks to my first two reviewers, Haipa Ookami and an unknown guest I will name Sir Bob. Thanks guys!_**


	3. Chapter 2

_**Hello again, those of you who have stayed are now on Chapter Two! I must thank the third reviewer for this story, EvansXAlburn, for, well, reviewing! :D And I also thank those of you who have decided to read my next chapter. One thing you should know is that I have a job, so I will most likely be updating during the week and not the weekend. (my job has me working odd hours on mainly Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays). Anyway, enjoy the newest chapter!**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto... :(**_

_**~Façade-sama**_

* * *

Sakura spent the next four hours hacking various cameras throughout Konoha. Once she had traced the signal of the cameras she followed it to the source.

**And thank god for that. I swear those baristas are going to kick us out if you don't buy another coffee.**

Sakura took a sip of her vanilla late and wrinkled her nose at the taste. _Yuck! It's cold now! _

**I told you to drink it, but NO, let's just ignore the voice in your head.**

Sakura cracked a grin as she exited the café. Her laptop sat securely in her back pack with all the stupid syllabus things from her classes.

_Is it syllabuses or syllabi?_

**You got me.**

Sakura shrugged and headed home. Her poor, cold coffee was dumped into the garbage when she entered. She tried to hurry up the stairs so she wouldn't be caught by her aunt. But, of course, fate just hated her today. First someone tried to hack her computer – **Well you did hack his first – **and now her aunt wanted to talk to her.

"Hello Aunt Yuki," Sakura said as she was waved into the living room. "Did you need something?"

"Just checking up on you," she said snidely.

Sakura gave her a disbelieving look. But this was the perfect time to get all her school papers signed. "Can you sign these for me?" She quickly handed them off. "Just syllabi for school."

Her aunt took them with disdain as if the mere thought of Sakura having touched them was too much for her. _Yeah, love you too Aunty._

Her aunt signed them with a black ink pen and handed them back with haste. Then she turned back to her reading, completely ignoring the form that was Sakura Haruno. Sakura turned with the stupid papers in hand, too excited about finding the source of the security cameras to really care about her disgruntled relative.

_When I turn eighteen I'm out of here, Inner._

**You better be! That hag hates us.**

She rushed into her room and opened her laptop with a grin. The source of the cameras was coming from almost a dozen computers in the police offices downtown. Sakura wasn't surprised really to see that the figures of the best Konoha officers had taken position inside the security camera room. _They are finally reviewing the tapes, Inner! Maybe I can just tag along?_

**Don't be boring! Hacking them yourself would be way faster.**

Sakura nodded. Inner had a good point. If she hacked the system herself and went through the cameras with her own software it would definitely go faster than the police investigation. _Not to mention I could run the CIA facial recognition software at the same time._

**You'd have to hack the CIA first, and that kind of hacking takes days to accomplish. Why not just cross reference the faces with the Konoha database census records.**

Sakura was just about ready to smack herself for forgetting something like that existed. _Inner, you're a genius. Thanks for the idea! _Inner snorted.

_And if the killer is not from Konoha I can use the census records from surrounding places until I get a match. But that's going to take a while._

**Just build a program to only notify you if it sees a facial match to people from surrounding areas.**

Sakura opened a compiler to start the program outline. Coding took over her mind for the next half an hour. During this she kept an eye on the happenings in the police offices. They had identified three suspicious figures so far, and, as they continued, Sakura became very optimistic. _Maybe this guy really can be found quickly. I thought it was at least going to take a week. _

**Code, girl, code!**

Sakura continued scripting the premise of her newest project. Once the compiler had the information coded correctly she saved it to the computer. _Almost done, Inner. Now I just need to download the census pictures from the surrounding areas._

**What places?**

_Well, obviously Konoha, probably Suna, Ame, Iwa, Kiri, and a couple others._

**Well what are you talking to me for? This downloading thing is going to take a while. Start it now and it will probably be done in the morning.**

Sakura nodded and began the download. She pulled census records from places within a forty mile radius of Konoha. As it downloaded, Sakura continued to watch the proceedings inside the police offices. And then she pulled up the autopsy reports on her family procured from the Chief's computer.

**Are you sure you're ready to look at those?**

_Yeah, it's time to get revenge. I'm ready. I think…_

She opened the first of the reports. Her father. She skipped over the general information towards the bottom where the written cause of death was placed. Her eyes lit on the protion of text she'd seen for herself when she'd gotten home.

'Male was stabbed in the left leg and shot in the abdomen post mortem. The cause of death was a single shot to the frontal lobe of the brain. Initial reason for death is unknown.'

Sakura breathed in and out deeply as the information rolled over her. At the time of the occurrence, she remembered only the blood found in every crevice of the floor, not the places the blood had been flowing from.

She quickly perused the other files with glazed-over eyes. They matched the description of her father's demise. And even after a month had passed, the events played over and over in her head like a continuous track sadistically showing her images she didn't want to see. Sakura hugged her plushy of a gaming controller to her chest as she let the memories roll over her. Times she had been happy with the people now lost to this world. Gaming with her brother. Eating family dinners that only occasionally turned into someone teasing her over the way she turned food into architectural structures. Her mother's smile as she fixed the family computer. Her father when he took her out on their Saturday evening drives. She'd talk to him about anything and everything. And he would always get her mind off of anything bad that had happened at school.

_I guess I wasn't ready, Inner._

Tears welled in Sakura's eyes after a moment.

**No one ever is. Time only dulls the pain.**

_It hasn't been enough time then I guess._

**When will **_**enough time**_** have passed?**

Inner had a point. Time would pass, but Sakura was unsure when the gap left by her family's death would be filled. It would always be there.

Sakura left her laptop open, downloading the information from over five other cities. She had long since decided to just hack the police again tomorrow for an update on the case. Maybe she could talk to Itachi again.

**Why? Do you like him?**

_Shove off, Inner._

Sakura was ravenous. The coffee from earlier had been able to hold off her appetite until now, but she needed food. She headed to the kitchen to make some onigiri for herself. It was likely that all of the excess onigiri from earlier had been eaten, as well as the three she had had for lunch and never ate.

_And Aunty still won't admit she likes my cooking. _Sakura snorted to herself.

* * *

Sakura trudged into school the following day. Compared to yesterday, she was way worse. Dark rings were forming under her eyes after getting only about two hours of sleep. She had practically scared Karin to death this morning when she had come downstairs. But, the prospect of finding her family's killer had made her think of nothing else.

She slid into her first period class with the syllabus out a ready to be collected. AP classes were going to be horrid this year. Not just because they were advanced placement, but because the homework load might infringe upon her hacking time.

The teacher, Morino Ibiki, gathered up the papers and continued to stare down the kids that had forgotten theirs: namely a sarcastic kid that seemed to really irritate the teacher. _I think his name is Sasaki something._ Sakura mused as she rubbed her temples. A headache was forming just behind her eyes and it was not even nine o'clock. She just knew this day was going to suck.

Her computer had finished downloading at around two in the morning. But, even then the police hadn't finished their list of 'suspicious figures'. It had grown to include six people seen near Sakamoto Yahiko's apartment yesterday evening. And she had not had the time to isolate the figures and run the new program. She had spent nearly all her time making sure that the bugs in the coding were cleared up. _It works perfectly. I tested it last night. Everything would be running smoothly if the police could give me those damn stills of the 'suspicious figures'._

**Looks like there's more to do later.**

_There's always more to do later._

Sakura's head slumped forward and she held in a groan. Explaining why she looked so haggard was going to be hell when her friends inquired. Unlike yesterday they wouldn't just ignore the distinctive signs of lack of sleep, they'd want to know what she was up to and why it was more important than rest.

_Not like I can tell them. Think about it, Inner. What would they do if I told them I'm Ryuu?_

**They wouldn't believe you. Hey, do you still have the cover up in your backpack from last year?**

_Year old cover up? Ew. But it's better than nothing I guess, if it's still functional. I'll put it on just before going out to meet them. Then they won't ask and I won't tell._

Sakura did just that. Before meeting up with her lunch group she hid the bags under her eyes so no questions would be raised. Then she sauntered out to the table as if nothing new was going on.

She spotted most of them already there. Naruto smiled and waved her over. "Hey, Sakura-chan, you're late today!" He smiled even wider as she sat down across from him.

"Sorry, Naruto," she smiled "I was waylaid in the hallways."

Her answer seemed to assuage his questions for the time being, at least any inquiries driven at her. He turned to Sasuke to continue the conversation they had already started. His eyes focused on the Uchiha with glee.

"Teme! That can't be true. You're brother has to be wrong," He said.

Sakura zoned into the conversation at the mention of Itachi. Her hacking 'war' – or whatever you called it – with him yesterday played through her mind. They couldn't be talking about that. No. Itachi wouldn't have told his younger brother. Would he?

"What happened?" she asked, keeping the waver of nervousness out of her voice.

"Teme told me that Itachi said –" Naruto started.

"Dobe, I'll tell Sakura," Sasuke grunted, ignoring Naruto's growl of exasperation. "Aniki told me that father and mother have a couple of girls they found for prospective fiancés."

Sakura laughed, a little because of the notion of Sasuke dating and getting engaged, and a lot for the fact Itachi hadn't told his brother about yesterday and she was relieved.

**You're getting paranoid. You know that's not healthy, right?**

_I'm already partially insane. I mean, what are you other than a mental disease?_

**I resent that. You don't really know if anyone else's conscious talks to them.**

_Oh, you're my conscious? Then why did you want to punch people yesterday?_

Inner didn't reply to that one. Sakura was left to laugh at Sasuke's predicament on her own. It felt good after having one of the worst nights of her life. She came back to reality to see Sasuke's frown of displeasure.

"Are they setting you up on blind dates?" she asked him still slightly giggling.

When Sasuke didn't answer, Naruto started to laugh. "And you don't know who any of them are, Teme?" He grinned at Sasuke's expense. "What if you get stuck with Karin?"

The look on the younger Uchiha's face was priceless. A couple of the others at the table who had been following along with the conversation began to chuckle as well. Neji turned to Tenten and gave a small smirk, knowing that if he didn't already have a girlfriend his Uncle would have probably done the same to him as Sasuke's parents.

Sakura just reveled in the fact that life still seemed to be semi-normal. She smiled to herself and pulled out her lunch. Today, even though she was still distracted because of the investigation going on, she would eat her lunch. _Aunty doesn't need to eat any more of my onigiri._

The rest of the day flew by. Sakura wasn't particularly good in art, but she loved to sculpt. Her small rendition of the leaning tower of Pisa – built in clay this time – had the teacher smiling at her. But she just couldn't shake the feeling that something horrible would happen.

Something did happen. That afternoon Sakura went to the same café, ordered the same drink, and sat with her computer in the same corner of the room as yesterday.

**Careful, you'll become a coffee addict.**

_Shove off Inner, I had two hours of sleep last night._

**Then you'll become an insomniac.**

Sakura ignored her Inner and continued to hack the police files for recent updates. This time, knowing that the elder Uchiha brother might be waiting for her, she jumped around to different servers before entering the system she wanted. Then she dug through recent files using key words to trace what she wanted to find.

Two documents came up immediately. _So, two of the six or so people have been identified. That leaves four for me._

She filed copies of the documents onto her desktop, and then copied a track of the security camera's time that she wanted for stills of the other four people. Plus, she wanted to look at the footage herself just to be sure the police hadn't missed anything. Stranger things had happened.

**That's just an excuse for copying the security footage.**

_Yep._

And then Sakura found something that caught her gaze. A word document addressed specifically to Ryuu. _That arrogant Uchiha._

**That was pretty smart. I mean, Uchihas basically live to manipulate people. He knew you wouldn't be able to resist clicking the document.**

Sakura narrowed her eyes. Her Inner was right. Curiosity would gnaw at her until she clicked it. She had to know what that stupid boy had left her to find, consequences be damned.

She copied the document onto her computer and scanned it without opening it up.

Virus attachment confirmed. Her computer chimed.

Sakura dismantled the virus with a small program, pulling the virus away from the document and flinging it back into the chief's computer. And then she looked at the document on her hard drive.

It was a simple text document like he had typed to her on before:

'If you're half the hacker people have told me you are, then you will be reading this with little to no difficulty. I know you were looking at the Haruno murder case as well as the investigation pending on Sakamoto Yahiko. As of right now my father is unaware of the intrusions upon his personal property, and if you want to keep it that way I suggest an information exchange. I have deduced you are not a threat to the investigation because of what you pulled from my father's files. The murderer would not have copied autopsy reports as you have done. So, Ryuu, I have a question for you: after you have figured out who the murderer is, how will you catch them? The answer, of course, is that you cannot. The Konoha Police Force can, and, as the son of the current Chief and future Chief of the Police Force I ask that you send any and all data to my computer. I'm sure you can find it. If you can't, then you're not as good as I thought you were.

Itachi Uchiha'

**That jerk! **Inner raged inside Sakura's head at the audacity of the elder Uchiha brother.

_But he is right, Inner. How am I supposed to catch the guy once I've found him?_

**Just because he's right doesn't mean we have to do as he suggests.**

_You're insane._

**I've seen sanity, and it's boring! And I'm you, so you're insane too.**

Sakura decided to stop arguing with her Inner. The baristas looked like they would, once again, try to kick her out for spending about three hours in the café after only buying on severely needed coffee.

_Game on, Uchiha._

Sakura decided to leave the café once she had finished up her hacking. Not like there was anything else to do anyway. She shoved her computer in her bag and headed to her car. The sun was just sinking into the hills when she made it home. Her aunt's car wasn't in the driveway and neither was Karin's. She sighed in relief at the realization.

_I guess fate decided to let me be for a while._

Sakura raced upstairs, her blood boiling at the thought of a challenge with an opponent of equal intelligence. After all, it was only her experience that saved her from him yesterday. He was a very good hacker. One she had never had the privilege to meet before, otherwise she would have remembered his hacker handle. Hackers all had distinctive styles, and Sakura liked to think that having an unpredictable style was her style. His was precise and by-the-book. Very hard to beat because of the fact his thought process could rival the computer. Sakura had heard about his IQ level. She wasn't surprised he would challenge her so soon after he had been defeated.

_Do you think that's what this is? A rematch from yesterday?_

**Maybe. Just hurry up and we'll see won't we?**

Sakura huffed as she sat down at her computer. Adrenaline was rushing through her veins. She wondered if this was how an athlete felt before a game, empowered by hormones and the thoughts of winning the match.

**Probably, but you can only guess at that, right? **She heard Inner laugh at her.

Sakura stopped listening to her Inner and decided to do this quickly. _He's got to be timing me just to see how long his little challenge will take me._

Finding someone's location was actually not that hard these days. But she could skip the first portion because she already knew where Itachi lived. His brother had mentioned once that he hated 'having his Aniki living near them'. So Sakura searched housing areas around Sasuke's house for records of an Uchiha Itachi buying or renting any of the living areas. It took her nearly ten minutes, which made her a bit annoyed, but she found that he lived in an apartment block not two streets down. The server for the apartment notified her that the person in Itachi's apartment was currently on the internet.

_He's just waiting for me; otherwise he wouldn't be on the server's internet connection. Stupid jerk of an Uchiha._

She slid a word document onto Itachi's screen, keeping defensive on her end in case he decided he wanted to try to hack her computer once again. Instead, through the web cam, he just gave a smirk.

_**(A/N: same as last time, bold is Itachi, Sakura is Italics)**_

**You found me I see. Do you agree to an exchange in information?**

Sakura bit back the words she really wanted to tell him. She didn't want to cuss at Sasuke's brother, she kept explaining to herself. That would be bad. Especially since he knew what was copied from the police computers.

_Yes, it seems you understand that I cannot take down a criminal on my own. I can only find evidence against him. However, I have just started my own search. I will have to get back to you at a later date if you want any of the evidence._

**You already have something to work on then.**

_Yes._

**Then I leave you to it.**

_I will return in exactly two days._

**I will be waiting.**

Sakura pulled away from his computer, thoroughly exhausted. The lack of sleep was finally getting to her. She took her computer offline, cutting the connection to her own server, and went over to her bed. Everything was spinning so fast around her. Thoughts of the case consumed most of her mind, followed by school and her friends, and, finally, thoughts of Uchiha Itachi, her only way into the police without seeming like a vigilante.

**But that's what you are, right?**

_Of course not. I just want to avenge my family. Wouldn't anyone want that?_

Her thoughts stopped when she realized she still had a few hours of security camera footage to watch courtesy of the Konoha Police Force. She sighed as she brought her computer over to her bed. This was going to be a long night.

* * *

**_Hello again! Please remember that any author loves getting reviews (and getting followers makes us think we're getting minions for our evil plans) so please leave a review!_**


	4. Chapter 3

**_Hello once again! I have to say thanks to the reviewers who have reviewed since my last update: sharkswillruledaWORLD, EvansXAlburn, unknown98, CherryTree230, a Guest I shall name Sir Larry, and MeMyselfAndZafir. I must confess that this chapter is a little bit smaller than the last one, and it is somewhat a filler. I found that Sakura had been mostly inside her own head for the last couple of chapters so I added some side character development. I must also confess to having a bit of trouble when I started this chapter, so if it's a little rough at first I am severely sorry. I found that I added a character to the list (you'll see when you read) and I am working on personal relations in this chapter. Reviews on how I did with this will greatly help my writing. Thanks again my readers! (And I have cracked the 10,000 mark! WOOOHOOO!)_**

**_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto... DX_**

**_Façade-sama_**

* * *

Sakura sighed and glared at the notebook in front of her for the nth time that morning. The security footage had been grainy and hard to comprehend, and it had taken her until nearly midnight to find all of the suspects for the murder case. And now, she had carefully written out the suspects' names and information she had gathered so far in the pocket notebook clenched in her hands. The two files the police had had on two of the suspects were also added. Combined with that, she had written down all the evidence and information pertaining to the case that she had acquired before the suspects list was formed.

_Man that was a lot of work._

**And you still wondered why the bags under your eyes were darkening.**

Sakura was in no mood to speak to her Inner. Instead, she read the information gathered so far. She had been smart enough to document the times each and every suspect had gone past Sakamoto-san's apartment, and when the police information was reported.

_Alright, to start we have the Haruno murder investigation. It happened on the twenty-first of August, and around 4:30 pm all three of the Harunos were murdered in their home. They all had the same types of wounds: a stab to the left leg, and a shot to the abdomen post mortem. All three had been originally killed by a shot to the frontal cortex. _Sakura suppressed the urge to cry at the memories once again.

**Keep going, once this guy's behind bars you can cry. But crying now won't solve anything.**

Sakura continued where she left off reading, skipping two sentences ahead to the evidence gathered so far. Her own calligraphy calmed her down a bit. Knowing that she had this much stuff on the murderer was empowering.

_The bullets from all three victims were .33, characteristically found in a handgun. This was also a match to the bullet found to have killed Sakamoto-san. _Sakura had pulled the latest files on the case earlier and had been pleasantly surprised at the newfound information. _No other forensic evidence was found at either scene._

_Moving on are the two currently known suspects for the investigation with reported evidence from the police force:_

_**Wantanabe Satomi: **_

_Characteristics: Brown hair/Brown eyes_

_Height: 1.62 meters (about 5.2 feet)_

_Gender: Female_

_Age: 43_

_Vocation: Chef at a Kare-ya*_

_Other Information: A single parent with three kids, all in elementary school._

_Wantanabe-san was seen driving out of the apartment driveway at 9:34 pm. She has never been seen visiting the apartment complex before that night._

_**Takahashi Itsuki:**_

_Characteristics: Black hair/Brown eyes_

_Height: 1.80 meters (about 5.9 feet)_

_Gender: Male_

_Age: 32_

_Vocation: Technology Consultant_

_Other Information: Single, working male with no past record of arrests._

_Takahashi-san was seen near the victim's residence at 9:47 pm. He was walking home from work a half hour later than he normally did._

Sakura sighed as she viewed the information accumulated by police. **We could have found more with an online search!**

_Of course we could have. If we hacked their email we could find whether or not they're the culprit. Too bad that's kind of illegal._

**Not like that has stopped you before.**

_Moving on to the five stills I found whilst watching the footage myself. They're currently being processed by my program to find out just who was near Sakamoto-san's apartment before he was murdered._

**I can't believe the police missed that guy that was walking in the alley way.**

_Think about that statement for a second. If it had not been for my incredibly advanced computer the blob wouldn't have even been recognizable as a human face._

Her computer beeped as it spit out the five names. Three were people that lived in Sakamoto-san's apartment building; the other two were from different cities entirely. All her computer showed was the name and affiliation of the person. Anything else would need to be gathered by an online search or from police records.

Sakura shot up as her eyes began to droop. It was currently 3:46 am, and Sakura's drowsiness was keeping her from completing the current mission.

**You don't have to 'meet' Itachi again until Thursday. Remember, you said you'd give him the information in two days' time.**

_Yeah, that doesn't mean I can just sit idle. And, technically, Thursday is tomorrow._

Sakura logged onto her hacker account for the first time in a couple days. She still had the one alert from her hacker friend. What he could still want - especially at this hour – was definitely a mystery to the tired, pink-haired girl. She clicked on the alerts anyway.

'I've made some recent progress hacking the firewall for the Hyuga Corporation. But it's still not working out so far. They seem to have an impervious defense against hackers and any programming I've used. Though I must ask how you have ever been able to make it into their systems.'

T1M3ST0P'

Sakura just smirked at the deviation from her thoughts. The Hyuga Corporation had been one of the hardest firewalls to hack in all of her experience with computer coding. The fact that it was a computer and housing security corporation may have been the root cause for the hard hours spent cracking the system. In the end it had become very worthwhile. She had played a prank on the tech people responsible for the system firewalls just to ensure that they knew someone had gotten into their 'impregnable' network. Sakura had rigged the network with a virus that continuously printed out a historical argument between the first Hokage and his political rival, Uchiha Madara – one of Itachi's ancestors. When the tech analysts realized their system had been hacked they had had a horrible time trying to get rid of the little 'prank' placed into their computers. When they had finally gotten rid of it, her hacker handle had appeared on each and every screen connected to the Hyuga Corporation servers.

**It's your stupid apprentice again. **Inner jolted Sakura out of her thoughts of the past.

_He's so determined to learn from me._ And then Sakura had an idea. _Hey, Inner. What if we have him help us with the case? I could use some _actual _help with the name searches._

**Fine. Better than the stupid Uchiha.**

Sakura smiled as she typed out her request to her aspiring apprentice. His hacking style was somewhat unpredictable, but only because she had been making him work on being untraceable. If he wanted to become a master hacker he would have to be able to avoid the police. She didn't want anything he knew about her getting back to them if he was caught.

**Not that he knows very much anyway. Just the hacking style you use and all the places you've managed to get into in the last year.**

_That's way more information than anyone else knows about me._

**Yeah, but you know his face and real name.**

_Only because I hacked his web cam to make sure he wasn't the police._

**And the guy turning out to be a thirteen-year-old kid is so much better?**

_I started my hacking career at a younger age. Now, to business: 'Good work, T1M3ST0P, but now I have a favor to ask of you. I have some names I would like you to search for me. Any information you can get would be appreciated. Just remember that all of this is a secret side project of mine. But the faster it's done the better. The names I'm giving you are all current Konoha residents: Sarutobi Rin, Shimura Danzo, and Kobayashi Aoi. I need everything you can find, including police records and prior arrests. All the information must be compiled and sent to me immediately. While this may be a side project I am still on a slight deadline._

_Ryuu'_

_Do you think that's enough information without going overboard, Inner?_

**Yep. Now go to sleep, I'm tired and we still have school tomorrow, or I guess today.**

Sakura sent the message to her self-appointed apprentice with a grin on her face. Maybe between the two of them they could get the information to Itachi that much quicker.

* * *

The pinkette groaned as she entered her first period class. For the past few days she had about eight hours of sleep for every night combined. It was already affecting her performance in the mornings. She no longer bothered to make an architectural structure with her food, and her daily jab at Karin's less than 200 calorie breakfast had flown out the window as well. Instead she almost stuck her whole face in her plate of chocolate chip pancakes and barely noticed Karin making her daily breakfast of toast.

"Sakura, you don't look very good this morning," Gaara, her only friend in first period, commented as she slouched in her seat. He had noticed the forming eye bags yesterday but hadn't said anything when they had gone away by lunch. But today he would not ignore them. "You haven't been sleeping very well, have you?" When there was no answer from the petite girl he took that as an affirmation. "Have you talked to Ino about this?" Gaara was treading on unfamiliar territory. He wasn't usually the one to ask about a friend's problems unless it was Naruto. And even then the blond kid came to him on his own volition.

"Ino wouldn't understand," Sakura commented to the redhead. Her voice was a bit raspy from disuse. It hadn't escaped Gaara that Sakura seemed to be in her own head more than she talked to their group of friends these days. It was a bit unhealthy, but then again who was he to judge? He hadn't had any friends until Naruto introduced him to the group freshman year. And he was never one to join conversations unless pulled into them with an inquiry about his opinion on a matter.

"If you want someone that will just listen, you can tell me about it," he had hesitated to say anything in the first place. This territory was making him nervous. His voice had dropped a bit when he had said that betraying the way this conversation made him feel.

Sakura turned to face him then. She already knew what it meant for him to actually voice that to her. It was an abnormal occurrence, one in a string of many from this crazy first week of junior year. "Thanks Gaara, that means a lot. But right now I need to handle this situation myself. If I need to talk to someone later about it though, I'll tell you."

Gaara was going to kick himself later for his next comment, but he said it anyway. "Bottling up your emotions doesn't work, Sakura. Take it from someone who's tried it."

Sakura thought about Gaara's words all through her next two class periods. By lunch she was stewing over the fact that the redhead had been able to understand her thoughts so easily. _He's right, Inner. This murder investigation has me reliving that day over and over again. And the fact that I can't think about anything but the investigation has me severely frazzled._

Currently, Sakura was sitting in her French III class clicking keys on her computer as if she were taking notes on what the teacher was saying. In actuality she was playing solitaire.

**All you have to do is solve the case. Then you'll be able to sleep peacefully at night.**

_I guess. But it seems like there's more to it than that. I hate emotions sometimes because they seem too complex. And there really is no way to vent my frustrations other than by hacking._

**Then hack.**

Sakura smirked at her Inner. At least her computer was already out and ready, and her some of her friends were currently in a boring Pre-Calculus class – one that Sakura had tested out of and hadn't had to take this year. Maybe she should give them something to talk about other than functions and parabolas.

_I guess I could do it._

**Don't guess, hack!**

She exited solitaire and began her fun. The tiredness she had sustained was quickly replaced with adrenaline, her eyes lighting up with the prospect of doing this while Kurenia-sensei lectured, and the lingering thoughts of getting caught echoed in her mind.

Sakura quickly bypassed the school's security firewall and set to work. Kakashi-sensei's Pre-Calculus class was next door, so she hoped to hear the outcome of her fun through the paper-thin walls. She started by taking over his projector, turning it on so she could see the mass destruction that would ensue upon his quiet classroom. Making sure she could still see – without the rest of the class seeing her – she loaded a YouTube video to the screen. It was a random music video that uploaded quickly on her demand. But it wreaked havoc on the quiet atmosphere Kakashi had set for their current assignment. Sakura had turned the speakers up to blast the unintelligible musical sounds. The sudden intrusion of the very loud noise jolted all of the occupants in the Pre-Calculus room, and several students from adjacent rooms, to their feet in a matter of seconds. Sakura watched as utter panic broke out in the room she had just pranked as well as the room she was currently residing in. Kurenia-sensei was trying to usher her students out of the French room with quick sweeps of her hands. The music was so loud that Sakura couldn't hear the female sensei's words above the din.

Like a good little follower, Sakura walked after the other students out the door. She closed her laptop, leaving the turmoil as it was for the time being. She rather liked getting out of the stuffy classroom earlier for lunch.

All of the students, as well as herself, were herded into the gym. She stuffed her computer, still very much running, into her bag and went to find her friends. Ino was laughing with Hinata over the whole thing in a corner near the closed bleachers. Sakura joined the pair, soon followed by Tenten and Neji as well as Sasuke, Naruto, Gaara, and a very annoyed Shikamaru.

"Did you see the look on Kakashi-sensei's face when the music went off?" Ino laughed. "He almost jumped out of his skin!"

"A-and t-t-then he m-made us all l-l-leave the r-room really q-quickly, grabbing a-all h-h-his books as-s if it w-were a f-fire alarm," Hinata added with a small giggle.

"Aw man, I missed Kaka-sensei's reaction!" Naruto commented with a small frown. "Asuma-sensei just pushed all of us out the door and took us here."

"And no one knows what caused this?" Sasuke asked with his own frown at the situation. Shikamaru glanced at Sakura but said nothing. She knew he had been monitoring her computer usage for the past couple of years. He should have a mild evaluation of her skills after doing such a thing for so long. He was a Nara after all.

"No," Gaara commented. "Not even Shizune-sensei."

"If Shizune-sensei has no idea what's going on, then won't the principle, Tsunade-sama, be having trouble as well?" Tenten asked, exasperated at being stuffed into the gym with no explanation on why the music had started. Neji put an arm around her shoulder reassuringly.

Sakura felt a tinged of regret at her choice of amusement. But hacking was the only way for her to blow off some steam. And Inner hadn't been bugging her for the past half an hour. She almost smiled at the thought, but stopped when she realized the small smile would not be appreciated at the current moment.

Tsunade burst through the doors of the gym, shaking the pink-haired girl out of her thoughts. She was pissed, and the look she gave the students near the entrance she had stepped through was one of utter contempt. The population of high school students quieted as she cleared her throat. "It seems that, as the computer science teacher is gone for the day, there is no one who can fix the system in Hatake Kakashi's room. However, I have gone over the current roster for the advanced computer science class and decided that if one of the students from said class can fix the systems I would be forever grateful. Therefore, I have to ask for all of those in the class I have just specified to follow me to Kakashi's room."

There was a ripple of hesitation from the students gathered in the gym. Sakura clasped her back pack strap tightly until her knuckles turned white. If they found out it was her she could be suspended.

Sakura peeled away from her friends to follow Shikamaru through the crowd. Only a handful of kids were in the advanced computer science class and Sakura was one of two girls. She didn't want to stand out, not with the evidence against her in the back pack she wore. She and the rest of the group pooled around Tsunade. Shikamaru gave her that look once again. The one that said: 'why'd you have to go and do something so troublesome?'

**Not like he's going to be the one to fix it anyway.**

_Inner, you're not helping. And I thought you left._

**I never left. I just chose to observe your destructive side.**

Sakura resisted a groan at her thoughts.

The principle led the group of teens towards the offending noise. Apparently it was a lot louder inside the room than Sakura had first thought. Everyone pulled their hands over their ears to try to stop the offensive sounds. But the blasting music continued its near eardrum destroying sounds. Sakura was regretting the use of metal music at this point.

The group gathered around Kakashi's computer. Sato Hayate took the challenge first. He tried to stop the atrocity coming from the computer, but Sakura's absurd firewall block had taken affect. She liked to make sure that no one got into a system when she was hacking it. And now she was cursing herself silly at the prospect.

When Tsunade wasn't watching, Sakura slipped a computer drive into Shikamaru's hand. Then she sent him a kicked puppy look. The Nara sighed at the look, but stepped forward none the less. He quickly hooked in the port without anyone noticing and pretended to type something onto the screen. The coding that was keeping the music playing on the projector disappeared and was sent back to the source, made untraceable by the port Sakura had given the Nara. Sakura and all the rest of the class let their hands fall to their sides in relief. The blaring had stopped and her computer skills were still safe. That was a good half a day's work for the pinkette.

Tsunade sighed and gave a small smile toward Shikamaru. "Thank you Shikamaru. Now classes can continue as they have been."

Right after she said that the bell rang for first lunch. Sakura smiled at the sound while the principle just sighed. "Alright, go. I don't want to see anyone for the next couple of hours."

The group left the room with smiles on their faces. Shikamaru handed Sakura back the port with a glance that told her he would have words with her later about her behavior. Usually she just hacked a random citizen and played slender on their computer remotely to scare them and make herself feel better. This sort of thing at school had never been done by her before. At least she hadn't left her hacker handle behind this time. No one would ever be able to link this with Ryuu as long as she didn't make this sort of thing a habit.

Sakura walked with Shikamaru to the table where her friends were currently residing. Naruto was grinning wildly at their appearance. "Sakura-chan, Shikamaru, which one of you fixed Kaka-sensei's computer?"

Sakura pointed to the Nara as she stuck the port into her pocket. She was fine with the guy getting all the credit. She had no desire for any of this getting back to her.

And that was when Ino saw her eye-bags. "Haruno Sakura what the hell have you been doing to yourself?" She was pointing at the offending objects beneath both of Sakura's eyes making all the rest of the table (namely Naruto, Hinata, and Tenten) look at her surprised.

"I haven't been sleeping well. Don't worry, I plan on going to bed early tonight," she answered rather quickly. She looked anywhere but at her blond best friend's face. "I'll be sleeping better from now on."

Ino looked at her doubtfully, but dropped the subject. Sakura felt the beginnings of a headache forming. _And just think, Inner, it's only been half the day so far._

**And I have a feeling the rest of the day is going to go downhill.**

Sakura couldn't agree more.

* * *

_**Thanks for reading! And I now have twelve followers (coughMINIONScough). Please review, follow, favorite, or all three! Your input is greatly appreciated!**_

_**And by the way, *Kare-ya is a Japanese restaurant that specializes in curry rice dishes.**_

_**Façade-sama**_


	5. Chapter 4

_**Alright, the next chapter is up! I had a visit from someone called Mr. Writer's Block after the last chapter. But don't worry, I have the next chapter in my head, all I need to do is type it!**_

_**Anyway, I had a question from one of my reviewers. This question was from sharkswillruledaWORLD:**_

_**Q: Is Sakura's self-appointed apprentice a character from the Narutoverse or an OC? A: He is an OC character that I have yet to give a name to. This chapter reveals only a little of his character personality, not his name. XD**_

_**I have some people to thank for reviewing since the last chapter: EvansXAlburn, unknown98, StarGem16, sharkswillruledaWORLD, a guest I will name Iron Man, MeMyselfAndZafir, and another guest I will name Phantom. Phantom said he/she would hack my computer if I didn't update. XD**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto (or Iron Man...) DX**_

_**~ Façade-sama**_

* * *

Sakura had eaten lunch in silence. There was nothing more to say about the current topic of conversation and she was glad for the stall in Shikamaru's questioning. She tuned in to the horrid account of Sasuke's dinner date the previous night. It seemed that while she was hacking away on the case he was 'enjoying' a five course meal with Tsuchi Kin – one of Karin's posse. Her family owned Tsuchi Enterprises, a moderate company with reaches all the way to Kumogakure. They were primarily a medical foundation that imported and exported healing herbs by using some of the Haruno shipping ports.

"It was awful," Sasuke grunted. "She constantly clung to me the entire night."

"Think you'll get Karin next?" Naruto asked with a chuckle.

"No," Sasuke smirked. "She's not even in the running for the Haruno manufacturing company. Sakura, however…" he trailed off as he glanced over at her.

"No way!" Sakura yelled. "There's no way I'm ever going out with you, Sasuke!"

Sakura was very grateful for the sound of the bell ringing for the end of first lunch. For the second time that day she was happy for the stupid noise. She grabbed her half-eaten onigiri and fled the lunch table for her advanced computer science class.

When she had entered she finally realized that Shikamaru would be able to talk to her alone in here without the security of her other friends.

She turned just as the Nara entered the classroom. He trudged over to his desk, motioning for the pinkette to sit beside him. Sakura did so, only because this was her assigned seat, and faced the boy that wanted to talk to her since before lunch.

"Sakura, why'd you do that?" he asked her. "You've never gone that far before, even when you were pissed at Karin."

It only took those two sentences for her to feel guilty over the computer prank she had done on Kakashi. "I'm sorry, Shikamaru. I didn't mean for it to get out of hand." She looked at his face to gather how he thought about the situation.

"But why did you do that?" he asked her.

She took a moment to formulate her thoughts on the exact reason for the major hacking she had done. _At school no less_. "I've just been stressed out lately. Everything seems as if it will crash down on me sometimes. Although, I shouldn't have reacted that way. I probably should have just hacked Karin's phone again. Her reaction would have been funnier than what Kakashi did."

Shikamaru leveled her a look before suggesting what Gaara had hinted to earlier. "You should talk to Ino about this, Sakura. She could help you more than I would be able to."

Sakura thought about this idea once again. And she came up with the same answer as this morning. "Ino wouldn't understand." Not only was the blond probably the least computer savvy of their whole group, but she had a nice, happy family still. How could someone understand the loss of relatives when the blond had pretty much lived a picture perfect life? Of course the obvious answer was that she just _couldn't_ understand. Her bubbly, beautiful, bodacious, blond-haired friend would not be able to help her with the problem brewing beneath the surface of everything the pinkette did now a days.

Shikamaru just sighed. "Troublesome. Is there anything I can help with?"

Sakura tuned back in to what the Nara was saying at that question. The boy next to her was probably the only one who would know how to deal with the feelings inside. He had read a psychology book this last summer – because he was bored – and she knew that he had a photographic memory. There had to be a chapter or two inside about how to 'deal with loss', or something just as crappy sounding.

"No, if there was I would ask," she said with a small grin, not quite capable of a smile yet. They both knew she was lying through her teeth about not needing help. But he let it slide.

Tsunade came in the room after the tardy bell rang. She glanced around the classroom and her eyes rested on the Nara for a moment longer than the rest. "Recent events have merited this class with a free study period. Kakashi sends his thanks to all of you for taking that music off of his computer. I will have Shizune monitoring the class, but you are free to do as you wish."

**Free period! It's the start of the year! I doubt anyone has any real homework yet.**

_Yeah, but as stated earlier the teacher is gone. Not much we can do. And where have you been?_

**Enjoying the live televised broadcast of a favorite drama of mine.**

_No, seriously. There's no way you could be watching T.V. inside my head._

**Who ever said I had to stay inside your head?**

…

Sakura decided to ignore her Inner in favor of copying the boy next to her. His head had lagged and fallen onto his desk, snoring softly even as Tsunade explained the free studying period thing to the rest of the class. The pinkette lay her head down and dozed off after a couple of seconds. She'd need the sleep if she was going to get all the case information straight later. She still had a day left before she had to contact the elder Uchiha brother.

She woke to the loud buzzer of the end of class bell. Sakura rubbed the sleep from her eyes and hurried off to Biology. She still had three more classes and then she'd have to see if her little apprentice had been able to find out more information than the police on the suspects she had given him.

_That shouldn't be too hard. I mean, the police only had about three to four lines of text on each of their suspects._

The pinkette zoned out all through the lecture on the replication of DNA. She was even able to tune out the discussion on Sigmund Freud in psychology. She wasn't, however, able to sit through art without at least putting some of her mind to use. The painting she had started yesterday was only a third finished, and it looked more like a sloppy mess than a replication of the original 'Woman with Golden Hair' by Bernard Meninsky.

_Even though his rendition makes the woman's head look flat. Do you think she was an actual person?_

**Dunno.**

Sakura sighed and continued to try to paint. There was no way she would ever measure up to the greats when it came to using any sort of paint and brushes. Now, sculpting she was excellent at.

When she was finally done with school, Sakura let out a grateful sigh. There was nothing more annoying than something you had to do, that took up your time, that you obviously didn't want to do. School had slowly become an event that Sakura had had to be able to zone in and out of.

She grabbed her bag and proceeded to the café. Today she was still in desperate need of coffee, probably more so than yesterday.

When she arrived she grabbed a cappuccino instead of her usual, a tribute to how much she needed the caffeine, and sat down in her regular corner to get started. The pinkette had no doubt that her apprentice was probably already done with his search, whether he had school or not today, and she eagerly awaited his search results. She had come to find that anything she asked him to do as a favor was done quickly and efficiently. It was as if the kid was trying to gain her approval.

**He probably is. I mean you are Ryuu, the only hacker to have been able to get through level five security firewalls. And then you went on to make a prank to show that the newly built level five security was not infallible.**

_Meh, they had it coming. To gloat that no hacker would ever be able to crack their main frame was just asking for it. When do the level six security firewalls get released again?_

**End of this week! You were so excited for it, you know before **_**that**_** event happened in your life.**

Sakura began to ignore her Inner's insensitive rant about how stupid it was for her to still be upset when she should probably just move on and accept that her family wasn't coming back. Instead, she sipped her coffee and opened her laptop. She had remembered to turn it off during lunch. She hadn't wanted the battery to run out in the couple of hours it took for school to end.

She started off with looking over the two suspects she had already, the two the police had gotten 'all' the information for already. Then she went to her hacker account to see if her apprentice had gotten the names done already. Her computer pinged her with the new alert from T1M3ST0P, and she gave a small smile to the screen. The kid was brilliant for his age, especially in the technology field. A few more years and he'd be rivalling her as the best hacker on the net.

'_Hey, Ryuu, I checked up on those names like you asked me to. I wasn't going to ask about the reason you wanted them, but if you'd tell me that would help me find more information. I compiled several paragraphs of data and took out some sentences to use, and paraphrased what you would most likely be interested in._

_First up is Sarutobi Rin. She's twenty-eight and she owns a bakery shop downtown. There's no police files on her, but she comes up as a participant in the town meetings every year. She was the adoptive daughter of Sarutobi Hiruzen, one of Konoha's political leaders until he died about three years ago. His death was suspicious. There's no hospital records at all. Anyway, she's engaged to Hatake Kakashi, a teacher at the high school. She has no other records except a birth certificate and a license._

_Second is Shimura Danzo. He's seventy-four and has a lot of history in the police files as a minor arsonist and anarchist as a young man. He owns a business that is known for making their employees disappear from time to time – a very shady individual. He was also there, or near, when Hiruzen died. He found the body for police. Interesting how there's two people now connected to that weird death._

_Anyway, the third is the guy Kobayashi Aoi. He's twenty-three and a recent graduate student from an engineering school in Suna. He was sent back to his home town to work in the Uzumaki Metal Manufacturing Company. He's the head of sales there, and unhappy about not getting the job in the engineering department he had wanted. He works diligently, but still leaks information to the Uzumaki's biggest rival company, Nagato something… They manufacture the same types of metal the Uzumaki's do. The guy has no police records, he's never been charged with anything._

_All these people live in the apartment building that had that creepy murder the other day. I'm not raising any questions, just wondering why you would want those people checked out. Working on that case, Ryuu?_

_Either way, now you owe me a favor._

_T1M3ST0P'_

She could practically feel his geeky grin as he wrote the message. She owed him one now. The last time she owed him something he made her hack into the company of the parent of someone who was bullying him and post pictures on the dad's personal laptop. She got the bully in trouble for a very long time and was so annoyed someone had bullied her apprentice she topped off the pictures with a shop lifting video feed from the mall. _I think he's still grounded actually. _She snorted and continued on the case.

Sakura wrote down all the relevant information into her little notebook. Then she looked over the information she found on the other two people. They were the two foreigners she had caught on the camera and decided to investigate herself so that nothing was overlooked.

_There's Yakushi Kabuto, age nineteen. He's seen walking out of the apartment building via the alleyway at exactly 10:24 pm. He's a student at a college for the arts in Sound, and named someone called Orochimaru as his guardian so he could take a trip to Konoha. He has no police records either here or in Sound, and he's basically clean other than a birth certificate and an international license._

_Then there's Kinuta Dosu, another resident of Sound. He's eighteen, and currently enrolled in Sound High. He has a string of auto thefts attached to his name in the police files both in Konoha and in Sound, as well as an attempted kidnapping caught on tape._

**Why the hell's he not in jail!**

Sakura shrugged at her Inner's question. She could only come up with one reason why he would be let off into society again. She continued to read the information she had gathered.

_He served time in a juvenile detention facility before being released on his eighteenth birthday. There's been no records since his release, and police weren't allowed to try him as an adult in court._

Sakura almost slammed her head at the completely useless information in front of her. There was no evidence to support any claims towards a specific suspect. The fact that there were two people from Sound country there on the same day around the same time was not a coincidence. There was just no way to convict anyone of murder when there had been no security cameras at the scene of the crime.

**What about a web camera?**

_That's genius, Inner. Why didn't I think of that? But it'd be impossible to get any information from a web camera if it wasn't already recording when the guy died._

**True.**

Sakura opened a new page in her notebook that already had a small header on it. It was a page she'd be writing theories and thoughts on how the victims were connected. _What did my family have in common with that guy, Sakamoto-san?_

The pinkette had been digging into her parent's history and cross-referencing it with the background of Sakamoto-san. So far nothing had come up and she was extremely frustrated. Sakura began the background check on her older brother with a frown. There was only a slight chance that her brother was the reason for their deaths, but Sakura was hoping the seventeen-year-old was innocent.

_Inner, how old was Sakamoto-san? I don't remember his age from the article._

**Um, twenty I think.**

Sakura nodded and continued to look into her brother's life. This sort of thing made her sick, looking for evidence that it was her Aniki's fault for the killing of both their parents.

**Heads up, there's an Uchiha coming in the café.**

Sakura glanced up from her work, startled at the intrusion on her thoughts. She found herself locking eyes with the elder Uchiha brother for a small instance. By this time Sakura was cursing her Inner.

_You just had to alert me at the moment he was glancing around._

**Of course! That's when you heard the bell for the entrance to the café. Remember, I'm you. I only notice what you do.**

_So I'm cursing myself when I curse you?_

**Yep!**

_Crap, here he comes!_

**Well at least smile! He's hot!**

Sakura decided that ignoring that guy was the easiest thing to do in this situation. She had to close anything pertaining to hacking and pulled up a social networking site instead. She hadn't been on FB for forever! She had over twenty messages from various people.

She stiffened as the chair across from her was pulled out and sat in. But Sakura's eyes never left her computer screen, at least not until the Uchiha boy cleared his throat. She looked up then and froze. He was too close, his eyes piercing into her very soul as if to scrutinize it for blemishes.

"By the way you were ignoring me I will assume you already know who I am," he said. "I also already know who you are, Miss Haruno." Sakura knew that tone. It was a voice often used in law enforcement. She'd had to deal with a lot of officers after her family's' death so she had gotten very used to the way they asked their questions to her and other family members of victims.

"What do you want, Uchiha-san?" she asked him curtly. Might as well get this over with.

"Just a question and an honest answer, Haruno-san," he said truthfully.

"Alright, ask your question. What could I possibly know that I haven't already told your father?"

Itachi regarded her for a second of silent contemplation. His dark eyes glanced over her entire form before he continued. A small smirk was now mocking the pinkette. "Do you know if your parents had any contact with a man called Orochimaru?" She tried not to look like she recognized the name.

_Hey, Inner, wasn't that Yakushi Kabuto's guardian?_

**Yep. He's that creepy, old snake-like guy.**

Sakura let her eyes lock with the elder Uchiha brother's. "No, I have no idea whether or not my parents had any contact with that man." When the Uchiha didn't get up and leave as soon as she had told him the information he wanted she raised an eyebrow in his direction. "Something else you needed Uchiha-san?" He only gave that infernal smirk before rising from the table. She watched as he bought a coffee and left the establishment.

The pinkette found a note under her coffee cup the second her eyes wandered from the form of the Uchiha. It simply read: 'Be less obvious, Haruno-san.' _Inner, what does that mean?_

**You left your notebook open to the page about your parent's death.**

Sakura's head met the keyboard of her computer. _Do you think he knows anything more than I am trying to find my family's killer?_

**Probably not, but he is a genius. Just don't give him any more pieces to put together and he won't find out anything more.**

_I have another question for you, Inner. How did he know I was here?_

**Other than Sasuke having told him, I dunno.**

_This was a message as much as the note itself. He was telling me to not only be less obvious, but to find a more secure place to investigate. I just thought that if I was out of the camera sightline no one would be able to see what I was doing. I guess the fact that Uchiha-san found me means I should just do this kind of thing at home._

**Are you sure you're not the genius?**

_I'm smart, but by no means am I on Uchiha-san's level._

Sakura packed up her stuff in a flurry. She would be home an hour earlier than normal, she just hoped that her aunt and cousin would still be getting their nails done – or whatever it was they did when they were away from the house.

The pinkette arrived home, parking her car on the street, and headed into the house quickly. Her Cousin Karin's car was here. Life just wouldn't let her catch a break more than once a week it seemed. But there was also a very fancy car parked right behind the red Mercury Sable. Two weird occurrences in one day had Sakura on edge.

She entered her house only to see two men in suits sitting stiffly on the couch across from Karin. The red-head was doing everything feasibly possible to get them to tell her why they were visiting her 'snotty, pink-haired cousin'. Sakura sighed as she went into the living room to quickly defuse the situation. Almost immediately the pair of men stood to greet her with a hand shake and clearly relieved facial expressions.

"Haruno-sama," on started. His eyes locked gravely with hers. "We have been sent to inform you of something that happened earlier this afternoon."

Sakura's eyes widened as the clearly older male called her that name. It was always her grandmother who has given that suffix, not her or her parents. That in itself partially alerted her to what must have happened. _It also explains the Uchiha's appearance earlier. _Sakura's heart began to beat faster.

Tears clouded her vision for a moment before Sakura forced them down. The other male continued the conversation. "Haruno Sachiko passed away at 1:38 pm today. As told to us by the woman herself, the board of Haruno manufacturing now turns to you, Haruno Sakura, the heir to the company, to take Sachiko-san's place as the company head." He gave a small smile of reassurance as the pinkette took in the information.

"How did she die?" Sakura asked, almost sure it wasn't from old age. Her grandmother had been in her sixties, definitely young to have had grandchildren.

One look from the guy on her left said it all. But the guy spoke anyway. "She was killed in her office on the top floor of Haruno Industries. The only thing left by her body was some DNA evidence that was not capable of identifying the culprit. There have been no suspects for the crime yet."

If it was DNA evidence wouldn't the person already be behind bars?" Sakura asked, confused at the lack of arrest.

They both shifted uncomfortably. "You see, Haruno-sama, the blood found at the scene was that of Sakamoto Yahiko. We haven't been informed of anything else by police."

"Your grandmother has had her funeral plans laid out. All we need from you is for you to book the funeral home for the ceremony. The board will be paying for the expenses, and after the will is read we want to instate you as head of the Haruno Manufacturing Company," the one on the right stated.

"But I'm only fifteen. There's no way I'm legally allowed to run a company if I can't even get a minimum wage job," Sakura denied, still coping with the fact she would no longer see her strong-willed grandmother when she went to the company building. She'd have to sneak away later to let out her emotions. There was no way she was going to cry in front of people from the board of directors at her company.

Karin had had enough of being ignored. She was suddenly standing right next to the pinkette with a very determined look in her eyes. "Why isn't my mom the one to take over the company now that the old hag has kicked the bucket?" she asked as if the question was by no means insensitive to the people in the room.

The two men took the comment in stony silence. When one finally did speak it was with an icy edge to his once calm, solemn voice. "While your mother was the daughter of Sachiko-sama, it was within Sachiko-sama's rights to skip your mother and pick Sakura-sama to succeed her instead." Sakura was surprised the guy had so much self-control. Right after Karin's comment she was ready to punch the red-head in the face, consequences be damned. The red-head had no sense of gratitude to the grandmother who sent money to them every month to help with the finances.

"I'm sorry, sirs, but what are you names?" Sakura asked as she tried to defuse the tension.

"Gomen, we were both rude. I am Yamato, and this is Hayate. We were the main advisors for your grandmother," the man on the right stated clearly. He gave the pinkette a card before turning toward the door. "Please schedule the funeral, Sakura-sama. We'll see you there."

Sakura watched as the pair of them left in their fancy car. Karin was glaring maliciously at the back of her head, but all Sakura could think was that the last link to her actual family – because she would never count her aunt and cousin family with the way they acted – was dead. _Murdered. _She thought. _Just like dad and mom and aniki._

Sakura charged up into her room to escape her stupid cousin. The red head had begun to whine about how it was unfair that Sakura was inheriting the company and she wasn't. The pinkette just ignored the ramblings of her cousin, and slammed the door when she reached her room. She couldn't think straight she was so distraught.

So it was with an angry mind that Sakura pulled forth her laptop and began to do what she always did in times of emotional turmoil. She pushed all thoughts into the back of her mind so that code was the only thing she would think about for the next hour or so. Her thoughts turned to her cousin with a vengeance. That red-headed creep would pay for saying those things about their grandmother. And Sakura had just the thing for the ungrateful girl.

She quickly hacked Karin's laptop. Through the web camera she could see the said girl typing away in the google search engine for information about the Haruno Company.

_She's researching her only family company? How could she not already know this stuff?_

Sakura was raging when she figured out what the red-haired girl was doing. She was livid that the girl didn't care that her grandmother had just died. Instead she was interested in money and profits.

The pinkette did something she had never tried before. She tore through her cousin's computer, ripping apart files, sabotaging the server connection, deleting all manner of photos that Karin had on there. She was so pissed she didn't even notice that her cousin was screeching as her computer showed all the things getting sacked. Sakura wanted the girl to understand the hurt that she felt. She wanted her creepy cousin to finally understand what it feels like to lose what you loved.

_It's really sad that I have to destroy her computer for her to feel loss._

**This is illegal, you know that right?**

_Of course, I'll restore everything when I'm sure she's learned her lesson. And I'll return everything before she can prove to anyone what happened. That'll make her a liar as well._

**You're evil.**

_I just want her to understand, even if just for a little while, what actual loss feels like. She's the type I can see not even crying at her mother's funeral, yet she cries over a computer._

**You'd be upset if something like this happened to your computer.**

_I have almost all my stuff on backup files on several computer USB drives. I'd be pissed for a while though._

Karin had started to shriek at the loss of her files. She leapt down the stairs as her mother came home to tell her what had happened, both about the men and her computer.

Sakura pulled all the files she had 'destroyed' back into the computer Karin loved so much. She even placed the creepy pictures back where they belonged. But, just for kicks and giggles, Sakura replaced Karin's wallpaper with one of the questionable pictures the red-head had had on her hard drive.

When Sakura's aunt came into the room she found Karin staring at the laptop in disbelief. There, on the screen, was a picture of Karin that Sakura really wished she'd be able to forget in the near future. All the files on her desktop were placed exactly as they had been. There were no files disappearing into thin air like Karin had claimed to her mother. The woman took one glance at Karin before leaving the room in disgust. Sakura, who was still watching the exchange through the web camera, thought that maybe her aunt wished to forget the screensaver on the laptop as well.

The pinkette had calmed down now from the rage she had been feeling not several minutes earlier. Her calm façade was questioned by the tears gathering in her eyes. The stages of grief demanded sadness, and then more anger. Or, at least, that's what Sakura went through last time.

Sakura decided to forgo the case tonight. She'd done enough work at the café that she'd have plenty to tell Itachi tomorrow. And even though her eyes shut automatically as she snuggled into her bed, she knew that sleep would be a long time in coming.

* * *

_**Just one thing more. I have pretty much set this up as an ItaSaku... review with any thoughts you have on the pairing! Also, I now officially have 18 followers. And I cracked the 15,000 mark! whoooooo!**_


	6. Chapter 5

_**Hello again my awesome readers! I finally got this chapter published. Sorry about the wait, I've been working since Wednesday. :( Anyway, there are a few people I need to thank for reviewing since the last chapter update: EvansXAlburn, MeMyselfAndZafir, and sharkswillruledaWORLD. **_

_**Alright, I must say that this chapter seemed a bit rushed, but I can always come back and retype those parts if need be. It was also a fairly emotional chapter because of what happened in the previous one.**_

_**One more thing! This is the longest chapter I've written so far! And it cracks the 20,000 mark! YEAH!**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto... :(**_

_**~ Façade-sama**_

* * *

Sakura's sleep was riddled with nightmares. She kept seeing flashes of that night throughout her normally dreamless sleep. There was her brother's face smiling down at her when she was younger suddenly mutilated with the wound and the blood pooling around his body. Her parents had tried to fight off the attacker, the forensic evidence had proven it. But both were dead anyway.

She saw the police and heard the sirens coming because she had called them with the news. A nice policewoman had helped her as she had gone into shock from the occurrence. But now she was also seeing her grandmother among the dead. The body sagged lifeless next to the other three as if it had belonged there all along.

And then there was a voice swirling around her form. All the flashes stopped at it remained just the voice and her own awareness. _I killed your family. What's to stop me from coming after you? _It mocked in a dark baritone. The faceless assassin was suddenly upon her. There was a knife and a gun, and then there was nothingness, black and mind-numbing.

Sakura started as she shot up in bed. The only sound for a long while was her racing heart beat and the panting of her own breaths. Tears streamed down the pinkette's face as she had once again relived that night, with an added sadistic twist at the end.

The pinkette shook as she sobbed. It seemed that all the events from yesterday were finally sinking in. This had been the weirdest week of her life, and it was still not over.

_Just a few more days. Got to get past today and tomorrow so I can think everything over on Saturday._

**Shouldn't you schedule the funeral for Saturday?**

_I don't need a reminder right now, Inner. _She pushed her face into her pillow and let out several deep breaths. When she was sure she had control over herself once more the pink-haired girl sat up.

She heaved herself out of the bed and turned on her computer. The clock on her nightstand said 5:38 am so she had about a half hour before she'd have to get dressed and go downstairs for breakfast. It was just enough time to compose herself so that Karin and her aunt would have no way to mock her for her swollen reddened face.

The pinkette ended up surfing YouTube for the most part. She found that whenever something upset her it was easier to get it out of her mind when she had something else to do. So she watched various funny videos until her clock said 6:12. Then she reluctantly shut down the laptop and proceeded to pull on a comfy pair of skinnies and a red shirt that she had gotten from Hot Topic with Ino this last summer. She ran a brush through her shoulder-length hair and gave herself a small smile in the mirror as a way to prepare herself for the day ahead.

She was met downstairs by a frowning aunt and a scowling Karin. They both pointed her towards the front room. In the living room there were two men accompanied by one of the men who had spoken to her yesterday. _Yamato, I think. But why are they here this early in the morning?_

It seemed that her aunt had the same thoughts. Her shrill voiced broke the silence coating the room. "What can we do for you gentlemen? Perhaps you would be willing to tell us now that Sakura is here." She had put on that stupid fake smile in an attempt to look nicer than normal.

The two unknown men shifted rather uncomfortably. One had longish blond hair the other had blood red. They were both rather scrawny, but Sakura was observant enough to notice the subtle cords of muscle along their arms. _So both of them are experienced in some sort of martial arts. Possibly more than one. _And now that she knew that snippet of information she saw several more indicators proving her thoughts. They held themselves with confidence and the blond guy's arm twitched subtly as if they were grabbing for a weapon at his waist.

Yamato dissolved the icy atmosphere as he spoke to the pinkette. "I was planning on meeting you at the funeral. However, it has come to the attention of the board that both your grandmother, the former leader of Haruno Manufacturing, and your brother, the previous heir to the company, have both been targeted by the same individual or individuals. Thus, we have proposed a plan to keep the current heir – you, Haruno Sakura – safe from harm."

Sakura looked at the man she had met yesterday incredulously. He had never actually proven he was part of her grandfather's company but these two men beside him had had profiles in the police files. They were officers who worked in a special group that included the elder Uchiha brother and several others. She just couldn't remember their names to save her life.

_Granted, my memory usually picks up codes and tricks way better than it does people's names._

"And this plan does what exactly?" Sakura asked him.

Yamato smiled at the three of them before continuing. "These two are part of the Akatsuki, a special faction of the police force. Until the person or persons responsible for the recent string of murders is found, you will have a pair of them tailing you wherever you go."

"You're saying that my grandmother's murder coincides with the murder of Sakamoto-san and my family?" Sakura asked. _Though he had said yesterday that the blood found at the scene was Sakamoto-san's, I still wonder why the culprit would target my family as well as someone I have never met before._

"Yes, well, there is evidence supporting that theory." Yamato gestured to the two men beside him. "This is Akasuna no Sasori," he said motioning to the red head. "And this is Iwa Diedara. They will be guarding you today to and from school."

Karin almost exploded at the notion. "But what about me! Don't I need body guards too?" she asked in her screechy voice. "Sakura's parents and brother were already killed, I could be next!" Sakura could see the obvious signs of jealousy in her cousin's eyes at the prospect of not getting 'a sexy guard' of her own.

**Why does our whore of a cousin need a guard?**

Sakura sighed at her Inner's language but looked over at the two Akatsuki members for the reaction almost everyone gave off when dealing with her cousin. They backed away minutely from the red-head and glanced appraisingly her way to see if she'd react to Karin.

"I'm sure you'll be safe for the time being," Yamato said, trying his best to defuse the bomb that was Karin. "I'll leave these two in your capable hands, Haruno-sama." He – for lack of a better word – fled out of the house. Sakura couldn't blame him. The day she turned eighteen she was packing and leaving this place as fast as she could. Now that she technically owned her grandmother's company she could probably push for emancipation. Her aunt might insist actually.

Sakura sighed as she glanced over the pair before her. She'd have to go behind their back to contact Itachi tonight. There was no way she was missing the information exchange.

**There's no way you're missing the chance to talk to Itachi. Just admit that you like him, it'll be easier for the both of us.**

Sakura refused to answer her Inner self. Instead she pondered Itachi's question yesterday at the café when he had caught her researching her parent's murder. _He asked about someone by the name of Orochimaru. That guy that was Kabuto's guardian. But I still have no idea why._

**This case just keeps getting more and more complicated by the day.**

_Yes it does._

She was snapped out of her reverie by two very nervous guys and one annoyed Karin. Her cousin had most likely tried to play the 'slut' card she had picked up from her first few years in high school. And it looked like she had been unsuccessful.

The pinkette just sighed in exasperation at her cousin's idiocy. While that approach may work on most of the high school guys it most certainly did not work on men. _Well, most men aren't affected._

She gestured for the two guards to follow her out to her car. _I guess I'll just buy lunch today. And breakfast is just gonna get skipped._

The two guys practically ran out after her to her car. The blond grudgingly accepted the other man's call of 'shotgun'. Sasori settled down in the passenger's seat with Diedara in the back. The pinkette started the Honda Accord and headed off to school.

**Just imagine what Ino'll think of this whole situation.**

The pinkette groaned with that realization. _Thanks, Inner. Like I needed a reminder for these sort of things._

Her thoughts lapsed into silence just as they rolled into the school parking lot. The pair of Akatsuki officers trailed after her as she entered the building. Principal Tsunade greeted them at the doors with a smile and a wave.

"Sakura!" she said with a smile.

_Funny, I was always one of the students whose names she could never remember._

**Well it looks like people will always remember you now. You'll be taking over the family company soon. Might as well get used to the attention.**

Sakura shook hands with Tsunade and shot her a fake smile. The blond principal smiled back. "I'm terribly sorry for your loss, Sakura."

The pinkette saw the sincerity in her eyes, but she was still wary. _Like she will ever know how much it hurts. Everyone always says their sorry. Sorry for what? That a person that was close to me died?_

"My grandmother was an amazing woman," Sakura remarked finally after a couple of seconds that become awkwardly silent.

Tsunade nodded her head in agreement as if Sakura had said something profound. "We – the board of the school and I – are aware of the situation, Sakura, and we hoped to be of help if you ever needed anything."

Sakura's lips curved into a wry smile before she, too, nodded in agreement. "I will keep that in mind, Tsunade-sama."

The principal turned to Sakura's pair of body guards. "As for you two," she began. "You may sit at the back of Sakura's classes. Don't disrupt the teachings. I have heard great things about your branch of the police force so please don't disappoint me." Then she turned and swept back into her office.

"She's intimidating, yeah," the blond guard said with a sigh. "Not as bad as Itachi though, yeah."

The red head grunted in agreement to the blonde's statement before he spoke up. "Come on, any more waiting around and we'll be late." He turned to his ward for the day and prompted her to head to her first period class.

Sakura complied with his wishes and lead them to her class, history. It was there that she was greeted by a less-than enthusiastic Gaara. He had taken a single glance at Sasori and almost groaned out loud in frustration. "What are you doing here?" he practically growled at the older male.

For his part, Sasori blinked in surprise but took it in stride. "Today I will be accompanying Haruno-san to her classes," he answered gruffly in return.

"Who's this kid, danna, yeah?" Diedara asked his friend in a voice reminiscent of Naruto when he had tried to whisper. But it seemed, from Sasori's slightly smirking expression, that the blond guard had done it on purpose.

"Diedara, meet my cousin, Subaku no Gaara," Sasori drawled as if the conversation was boring him. Sakura just looked on in amusement at the 'introduction'. The little conversation had distracted her just enough to become blissfully ignorant for a few seconds as to why the Akasuki members were with her for the day. But, of course, like most things, it came crashing back to her after only a moment.

"And why will you be accompanying Sakura?" Gaara asked as he eyed his cousin with annoyance.

"We were asked by Sakura-chan's company to keep her safe for the day, yeah!" Deidara answered confidently.

Sakura twitched at the familiar way he had used her name but she let it slide. "Her company?" Gaara asked in surprise – if by surprise one means only the minute widening of one's eyes and the small, inaudible intake of breath.

"Yes," Sasori confirmed, dancing around the topic of exactly _why and how_ the company had gone to Sakura. The pinkette noted the subtle glance Sasori shot her way, as if to make sure she was alright.

_Maybe these body guards aren't so bad, Inner._

**Yeah, and at least they're hot. I mean, it would have been a total waste if we had had to spend the whole day with ugly guys.**

Sakura chose to ignore the spiel of her Inner in favor of taking out her things for history class. She didn't want the conversation to go any farther than it already had, and she was sure that Gaara had now figured out exactly _why_ the company was now hers. If she could help it there would be no way for the others of her group to find out about what had occurred. But she knew that with these guys tailing her every move the whole school would know by lunch time.

**It'll probably be on the news tonight as well. It was nice of the company to hold back the news crews for a day, but with a story like this one there is no way they'll be able to do that twice.**

_At least it's a Friday tomorrow. I'll have the whole weekend to acclimate to the role my grandmother left for me to fill._

Sakura stopped the shudder from wracking her body. There was no way she was going to cry at the mere thought of her grandmother, especially not in class in front of all these people. She shifted the weight of the computer on her back and took comfort in the normal atmosphere that was school. Not that she really enjoyed being here, but it was a good way to get her mind off of everything and focus on the droning of the teacher.

It took a few minutes, but Sakura finally gave up on pretending to listen. Her first period teacher was so boring that he almost put Gaara to sleep. _And the guy's an insomniac!_

She tuned into her Inner's rant about how school should be a fun place to learn, not a 'prison that sucks out souls'. To distract her wayward Inner she began to think of what would be taking place later that day.

_I have to contact Itachi without the guards noticing. Do you have any idea how to accomplish that?_

**I have no idea. Why'd you ask me? You're the one who comes up with all the important thoughts.**

_Well, I've only got until the end of the school day to figure it out. I should be able to think of something by then._

"Hey, Sakura-chan, yeah!" Deidara shouted excitedly. "You're done with boring old history class now, yeah. Where are we off to next, yeah?"

Sakura's response was said with a small smile at the blond, "AP Honors English, Iwa-san." She walked out the door with a smirking Sasori, leaving Deidara to wonder why she had been so formal with him.

"Hey, Sakura-chan, yeah." He said, scrambling after the pair. "Don't call me 'Iwa-san', it makes me feel old, yeah. Just call me Deidara, yeah."

Sakura nodded. "Alright, Deidara-san. If that is what you want."

She was trailed by the two of them into her English class. She had none of her friends in this class period as all the rest of them had it during her fifth period class. Sakura – and Ino – had been horrified when they had realized they wouldn't be sharing any classes for junior year. But they had agreed to always have lunch together.

She zoned out throughout all of English, already knowledgeable of the curriculum for this class. There was no way she was going to listen to something she already knew, no matter how many times the teacher shot her dirty looks from across the room. All she did was sigh at his immature way of acting. Sasori and Deidara looked on with smirks. Who would really ever know that despite what most of the student body thought, Haruno Sakura was by no means a teacher's pet?

Sakura lead the strangely silent guards to Kurenai-sensei's French III classroom. Her third period was slow and boring, unlike yesterday, and was filled with conversations between the students – in French of course – about all manner of things. "Je parler Fracais. Vous parle Fracais est Englais?" (I speak French. Do you speak French and English?) Sakura had asked this to her desk partner just so she could get the 'conversation' over with. To her surprise Sasori was the one who answered.

"Ta bun." (Maybe). He said softly from behind her. Sakura groaned minutely. Of course he had to say that in Japanese when she was in the middle of _French_ class.

"Watashi ga namae wa Sakura desu." (My name is Sakura.) she said after a moment, having taken a few classes of Japanese with her brother when they were younger. The language had just stuck for her. Perhaps it was the fact she really wanted to read a manga not written in the English language one day. "Namae wa desuka?" (What's your name?)

"Watashi ga namae wa Sasori desu." (My name is Sasori.) He answered. "Yoroshiku." (Nice to meet you.)

The bell rang seconds afterwards, and Deidara was looking between the two of them in surprise. "What the hell, yeah,' he finally exploded. "We were in French class not whatever that was, yeah."

"That was Japanese," Sasori said with a smirk. "And it seems that Sakura-san knows it enough to get by."

Sakura overlooked the inquiry hidden beneath the words the red-head had spoken. He wanted to know where she had learned it, but she was very tight-lipped about her family these days. When she was younger she would always brag about how her 'big brother was the awesomest thing in the world'. But, of course, that coming from a seven-year-old it was often ignored.

She made her way to the lunch table and plopped down, Sasori and Deidara steeling a couple of chairs for the surrounding tables to place near hers. Ino, who had made it to the table before Sakura today, looked between the new pair of guys and the pinkette they had followed here. She twitched when Sakura looked up without saying anything about the new additions.

"Sakura-chan, who are these guys," Ino all but demanded an explanation.

"Oh, sorry I'm being rude," the pinkette spoke before she glanced over at her body guards. "The red head is Akasuna Sasori, and the blond is Iwa Deidara. They've been…looking out for me today."

Ino gave her best friend a piercing look that asked for further explanation. When she wasn't given one she introduced herself. "Hello, I'm Yamanaka Ino, Sakura's best friend." She had stressed the last two words as if to get some sort of point across to the two uncaring males.

It went on like that all throughout lunch, with the exception of an incredulous Naruto and an annoyed Sasuke, no one seemed to comment about why the two where there. Sakura's best guess was that Gaara had informed the group about the conversation in first period. He wasn't one to talk so openly with others, and that was probably one of the factors as to why everyone was acting as if there was nothing wrong. They didn't want their pink-haired friend to start crying. And Sakura didn't cry. Even more disturbing though was the effort she put in to make everything seem more normal. She laughed at Naruto's jokes and conversed a little with Hinata, Ino, and Tenten about shopping later on the weekend. And every time she brought out her false smile her guards frowned a little. Only a few at the table could see how much everything was really hurting her: those being Sasuke, Shikamaru, Neji, Gaara, and her guards. Naruto seemed oblivious to the whole situation, and no one was going to tell him otherwise.

Sakura followed Shikamaru to her fourth period class and settled in her normal spot. She pulled out her silver laptop in preparation and was pleasantly surprised when the teacher walked in and announced that they would be working on a group coding project. Not many of the students in the class knew how to code, even though all of them were utter computer geeks. But Sakura being Sakura was thoroughly excited for the change of pace.

Shikamaru paired up with her automatically. They were the only two out of their group of friends in the class so it was only natural. Plus, Shikamaru always knew that she could code amazing programs if given the time. He was too lazy to do it himself.

So Sakura followed the teacher's instructions to make a simple program in her Java Compiler. As soon as he explained what they were to make she was off. It was to be a small program that gave off data on a person if their name was in the program. She also needed to have a function where someone could add a new set of data strings to the code without going into the coding itself. It was actually the basis used for a contacts list on a cell phone.

She completed the task in several minutes, reveling in the fact that everyone else would probably have this as homework tonight. And then she remembered the pair behind her that were 'watching out for her' today. They were arguing about something at the moment and had not noticed she had finished her work prematurely. So she pretended that it was really hard and took the whole class time to code it.

**Why'd you do that?**

_I don't need my skills getting back to Uchiha-san because those two guys decided to tell about how I coded a program as if it were nothing._

**I see. You don't want to give the genius Uchiha too much information on yourself now that he's approached you about the case you're working on.**

_Yes. There's no doubt in my mind that he's going to ask these two about me when they return for their report._

**I think you're becoming paranoid.**

The rest of the day passed uneventfully, except for art class where Sasori and Deidara got into a spat about whether or not art should be eternal or fleeting. _It was like listening to two five-year-olds fighting over their favorite toy._

**You're telling me.**

And then Sakura was I her car on the way home. She was skipping the café today because of what had happened there yesterday. Sakura was also hoping that she could convince the guys to go once she had made it safely back to her house. And then one of their cell phones rang, and Sakura was thanking fate.

She pulled into the driveway just as Sasori answered it, speaking in a low voice to the person on the other end of the line. He glanced up sharply at Sakura as she exited the car, followed by the blond and himself. She watched as he mumbled a goodbye and peered over at them for a couple of seconds. "It was Leader-sama," he finally said with a sigh. "He needs us back at HQ right now. He's sending Hidan to pick us up."

Deidara cursed under his breath. "Must be urgent if he's sending Hidan, yeah," the blond commented. "Looks like we're leaving you here, Sakura-chan, yeah."

Sakura tried her best not to look relieved that she wouldn't have to try and do her hacking while they weren't looking. But if their leader had called them urgently then maybe Uchiha-san had been called in as well.

_I'll just drop the information onto his hard drive if he doesn't answer. It's not like he wouldn't find it, especially if I label it correctly like he did to me the other day._

**Yeah. Let's give this guy a run for his money!**

Sakura absentmindedly waved to the two guys who had followed her that day. They got into a slate black car with a guy that had silver hair and weirdly colored eyes. When they had driven off down the block she charged into the house and up to her room where she'd be away from prying eyes. There was no way that Uchiha-san could find her 'accidentally' today, unlike the previous afternoon.

She settled comfortably on her bed and pulled her laptop from her bag with a small, sincere smile gracing her lips. She always missed the feeling of the keys beneath her fingers whenever she wasn't hacking. She felt powerful when she was able to span the globe in a few seconds without moving an inch from her location.

Sakura traced the Uchiha's IP address when she couldn't find him at his apartment. She grew a bit discouraged when she didn't find it right away.

_This must be another test._

**Yeah, like the last one wasn't enough. Now he's playing on your ego.**

_And he's winning. I don't plan on letting that continue._

So she let out an IP scanner to find the one computer IP address she was searching for amongst the thousands in the Konoha area. There was no way she was letting that insufferable Uchiha get the better of her.

When her computer pinged that the Uchiha was found she smirked and looked at his location. It was a small warehouse near the ports.

_Now why would he be there?_

**For whatever the leader called Deidara and Sasori for?**

_Then why would he bring his laptop. There are no other computers connected to the wireless in that location._

**Dunno. Do I look like a seer to you?**

_Stop with the sarcasm, Inner._

Sakura hacked her way into the web camera on his laptop first, and then she hacked the microphone hooked to Itachi's computer. She really needed to get her own microphone one of these days.

Once she had access to sound and sight she shoved a word document on the screen knowing it'd be a moment before he saw it.

True to her thoughts, the Uchiha saw it after a moment. "Leader-sama, Ryuu has contacted me once again."

So he had told this 'leader-sama' about having been contacted before. And here she was hoping this was just a game set between the two of them. _At least with more people in this little game of ours it will become more interesting._

She typed out: _Nice microphone. Now I can hear what you say._

"The hell! Who is this b –" Someone blocked the mouth of the guy who was about to speak.

"That is Ryuu, the most infamous hacker in the world. Be respectful, Hidan," a red-head with a lot of piercings chided the silver-haired guy.

"Sorry, Leader-sama," Hidan mumbled.

_Hello Hidan. _She typed. _Nice to meet you too._

Hidan's eyes widened, but the reproachful look from the leader made him stop himself from answering the jab. Sasori and Deidara moved into the view of the camera after a moment to see what she had written.

"That's who's been contacting Itachi, yeah?" Deidara asked with a frown. "How'd you bump into Ryuu, yeah?" The second question was directed at the stoic Uchiha, but Sakura answered for him.

_I was hacking in the area and Itachi-san decided it would be a good idea to try to hack my computer. As you can already tell, that didn't work out so well._

She saw the Uchiha minutely bite his lip in annoyance as she downplayed his skills as a fellow hacker. This was just her way of getting back at him for making her track his IP address down like a fricken' computer scent hound.

Leader cleared his throat to stop any of the chuckles her answer had received. "I was under the impression that you had information for Itachi-san today. Perhaps you would be willing to advance your findings to us now."

_I do not appreciate being ordered to do something, remember that, Leader-sama. However, here are the suspects so far:_ _Wantanabe Satomi, Takahashi Itsuki, Sarutobi Rin, Shimura Danzo, Kobayashi Aoi, Yakushi Kabuto, and Kinuta Dosu. I want you to gather your own information on the suspects as I gather mine._

Leader nodded his head as he read my message. Then he spoke up. "Why won't you give us all your information?"

_Would you give all your information to a stranger, Leader-sama?_

He grunted in acknowledgment of that statement. And then Sakura went on.

_I'll leave those names with you. And now I'll focus on searching for a connection between the murdered victims. When will you be next available to talk to, Leader?_

Leader pondered that question for a long moment. "I'll talk to you again in another two days at this same time." He turned his back on Sakura and she decided to give him a special goodbye present.

_Don't ever turn your back on me. You just might find out how much I can do in such a short amount of time._

Sakura left him with a very potent virus that began to attack the Uchiha's computer immediately. She knew he'd be able to diffuse it. It was similar to the virus he had tried to place via file on her computer the other day.

So she quickly exited the system and made it back to her own network. Without the distraction of the internet there were tears now gathering in her eyes. She wiped them away quickly. With a sigh she curled up in a ball on her bed and tried not to cry any more over her grandmother's death.

**Time will help with the pain.**

_No. Time leaves scars where the pain still resonates. I'll never truly heal._

* * *

_**YESH! Another chapter complete... and ENTER AKATSUKI! :) I now have 27 followers (minions...) and I shall rule the world very soon... yeah right that's just my ego talking... XD Until next time my awesome readers! O.O**_


	7. Chapter 6

**_Sorry about the wait for this one! I was kind of lazy this time... but I wrote a lot more than last time! Yeah!_**

**_Okay, I have four reviewers to thank since the last update: sharkswillruledaWORLD, silverwolfighter00, Nikka-Hime, and BiancaWrites. Thanks for reviewing, guys!_**

**_Nikka-Hime had a question for me: Q: Will this turn into an AkatsukiXSakura fanfic? A: I would definitely love to try this pairing. I have no idea if I could write all the Akatsuki in character though. But, as I have not received any negative comments on my portrayal of Itachi, I guess I will try my best. Does anyone else have thoughts on whether or not I should try an AkatXSaku pairing?_**

**_Alright, just a heads up. I may or may not be able to publish a chapter next week, but I'll try. Just know that there is no way in hell I'll ever abandon this story. If I don't publish next week I will the following week. OH QUICK NOTE: this is a filler chapter in the beginning, and it picks up for plot relevance towards the end._**

**_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto... _**

**_~Façade-sama_**

* * *

Sakura had very little sleep that night. Combined with the _great_ amount of sleep she had gotten throughout the week it totaled to about fourteen hours. So when the pinkette woke up she was both tired and frazzled. Every little thing annoyed her – the covers of her bed, the cold floor, the snag on her night shirt, her messy hair…everything. She managed to throw on a black tube top that was most probably clean followed by a sweatshirt and a pair of dark skinnies. She ran a brush through her short hair and picked up her fully charged computer to put in her bag for school. If there was one thing she never forgot it was her computer.

Before she had fallen asleep last night she had made the call about her grandmother's funeral; it would be taking place a week from this coming Saturday at two pm at the funeral home five blocks away. She'd have to prepare a short speech about her grandmother before putting her to rest. Sakura didn't remember much of her family's funeral. She'd still been in slight shock, and had been able to foist the speech off on aunt Yuki. But this time it was all her.

Yuki didn't exactly despise her mother, but she did dislike the woman for choosing her brother's daughter as the next heir to the company and not her own. But anyone who ever met Karin knew that she was not the kind of person you wanted to run a company, and everyone but Karin and aunt Yuki seemed to realize that.

Sakura grabbed her back pack and walked, as calmly as her frazzled nerves could take, down the stairs to the kitchen. Despite having not gotten a breakfast yesterday she was going to make extra sure that she'd get one today.

She had to settle with semi-cold onigiri from the fridge that was not as good as what she could have made. Her aunt had always tried to figure out how Sakura could make such delicious confections, but it was to no avail. Her poor aunt just didn't have the talent for cooking. Not that Sakura was ever going to say that to her face.

The pinkette arranged the onigiri to look like Mt. Rushmore. It seemed that the two onigiri could be combined easily as one since the 'stickiness' that held them together was not very well done. She finished sculpting just in time for Karin to waltz down the stairs as if she owned the place. Neither said a word to the other as the red head put bread in the toaster for her daily 'breakfast' and pulled it out to munch on without butter. Sakura knew she'd never be able to 'diet' like that.

There was a knock on the door, just two hard pounds, and Karin had walked over to get it. _Good, looks like I don't have to._

She continued to just revel in the silence that hung now that Karin had left the room. She was steadily breathing in and out to calm her nerves and thanked whoever was watching for the chance at silence before she had to traverse the halls of hell that day. She was interrupted by a very loud clearing of someone's throat. Not to be rushed, the pink haired female enjoyed the last bite of her food before turning around.

Sakura came face to face with the tallest man she had ever seen. He had blue hair and skin tinged a bit the same color. He was grinning widely at her reaction to his presence. The pinkette's eyes had widened and her mouth had dropped open at the sight of the huge guy. She was still trying to comprehend why he was there when she spotted the Akatsuki red cloud design on the sleeve of his dark jacket.

_Of course. Yamato explained I'd be getting a pair of guards daily._

**Yep. And by now the school should know what has happened. It was on the news last night, so at least you get a super buff guy today to ward off any unwanted attention.**

Sakura gave a small smirk at Inner's reasoning. Then she stood up and stuck out her hand to the tall man. "I'm sure you already know, but I'm Haruno Sakura," she stated.

The blue man took her hand in his own, completely enfolding it, before saying his own name. "Hoshigaki Kisame," he said. "And your other guard for the day is trying to escape from your cousin." His voice was a deep baritone and he smirked at the end of his sentence as if his partner getting caught with Karin was the funniest thing he had seen in a week.

Sakura turned as the 'other guard' entered the kitchen, followed by a shrieking Karin. The red headed female glared at Sakura before once again trying to hang off of the male who had just entered the room. "I believe we have already met, Haruno-san," Itachi Uchiha spoke calmly even as he pushed Karin away from his person.

"Yes we have, Uchiha-san," the pinkette said evenly as if her Inner was not on a rant about 'how it was obvious they would get the sexy Uchiha as their guard on a day they wanted to remain low-key'. Instead of responding to her Inner, Sakura pulled her bag closer to her and walked out of the kitchen – followed by the pair of Akatsuki officers – towards the door. She wanted to get to school early to avoid the majority of the people. And it seemed that the people tailing her were grateful that she was going to leave early. Especially the current fixation of the red head.

She quietly got in her car with the two of them and headed off to school. She was glad for the silence that once again reigned after they had gotten rid of her cousin. There was no way she was going to let the insensitive creep she was related to ruin the day for her.

Sakura arrived at school without seeing the whole of the student body. And she was very happy with that fact. She made a beeline for the open doors and proceeded to first period. There were several people in the hallways that glanced her way only to whisper to their friends as if she _didn't_ know they were talking about her. She refrained from rearranging any of their faces because, once again, it 'wouldn't insight a very good track record' for the pinkette.

Surprisingly, Gaara was already in class. She had had no idea that he showed up this early for school. Though, it made sense. His older brother, Kankuro, usually had morning detention with Kakashi-sensei. Not that the silver haired man ever showed up for the sessions. He usually had Gai take attendance so he wouldn't have to show up until second period. Sakura had never asked why Gaara's brother got detention. She had a feeling she didn't want to know.

The pink haired female settled down in her seat, garnering a glance from her friend, and sighed inaudibly at the thought of enduring another boring day of high school. And she still had the whole year to go. This week was only one of many to start off her junior year.

**And so far it's been a hell of a lot of fun. **Her Inner was steaming mad at the prospect of spending the rest of the year doing nothing for six hours a day.

_We'll have to deal with the gossip for the rest of the year as well, Inner. As long as the culprit is out there, we'll never be rid of the guards and we will have to run grandma's company as soon as the funeral is finished._

**Do you think they'll let us move out of aunt Yuki's house?**

_I guess. As long as we have the backing of the board of the company, aunt Yuki can't stop us._

Sakura zoned back in as the bell rang for the start of first period. Both Kisame and Itachi had been silent the whole time, and neither moved to break the ice unlike Deidara and Sasori had yesterday. Where the blond boy had usually kept up a constant stream of background noise – unless she was in the middle of class – these two seemed content to simply observe. Sakura noticed that this was easier for the Uchiha than it was his taller counterpart.

She managed to drag through first period with thoughts of the case in the forefront of her mind. There was no way she was going to blow off gathering information tonight. She had told 'leader-sama' that she would be searching for a connection between the victims. She'd start with her parents and that Sakamoto guy. Then she'd get to why her grandmother had been killed. This case would be solved one way or another.

Sakura trudged out of the room moments after the bell rang. Her second period was just down the hall, but she wanted to get out of the massive hallway crowd as soon as she could. Already she felt several pairs of eyes on her person.

Honors English went by much the same way. Sakura zoned, her teacher glanced at her with pity, and she left as soon as the bell rang. When the bell signaled the end of French III, Kurenai waved at Sakura to come up front and talk to her. The pinkette grudgingly did so, and she was severely grateful that her guards stayed at the back of the class so the talk could be somewhat private.

"Did you need something, Kurenai-sensei?" she asked even though she already knew what was on the teacher's mind. There was a hint of pity in the older woman's eyes. Kurenai had always been the one teacher Sakura equated most to her mother. The woman had most of the quality's she had had. Sakura had been glad to have gotten Kurenai as her one of her sensei's this year.

Kurenai looked her over as if to reassure herself that the girl in front of her was ok. Then she leaned in and hugged her skinny frame. "Sometimes life is cruel, Sakura," she said softly as she let the girl settle her head on her shoulder. "I'm not going to say sorry. I'm not going to tell you that everything is going to be all right, because we both know I can't. But if you need something, anything, remember you can talk to me about it." She let the pinkette go and looked at her with a smile that said more than words.

"Thank you, Kurenai-sensei," Sakura said. And she meant it. What her teacher had told her was sincere unlike what many had told her at her family's funeral. Words like 'I'm sorry for your loss' can only be taken seriously so many times before they become fake. "I will."

She walked out of third period with a small smile on her face. It wavered when she realized that it was now lunch time and she'd have to talk to her friends about what had occurred. There was no way Ino was going to let this one go today like she had yesterday, no matter how much her pink haired best friend said she was alright. Ino wasn't one to pretend everything was alright for prolonged amounts of time, unless it suited her. Sakura was astute enough to have noticed the glances her best friend was giving her the previous day and she had to assume the blond was planning a confrontation to assess her emotional status.

And then she remembered her Akatsuki body guards. Maybe she could distract the blond with the pair of males currently trailing her. She really didn't want to be the center of attention at the lunch table today. That was Naruto's job.

Sakura dragged her feet as she neared the tabled they always ate at. There were three people there already: Naruto, Neji, and Tenten. She let out a breath and sat down. Itachi and Kisame grabbed chairs at a separate table and made themselves comfortable. Apparently they had no intention of sitting with the group like the other pair had yesterday. But Naruto still saw them, and he made a big deal out of it.

"Why's Sasuke's brother here?" he all but yelled. "He graduated like three years ago."

Sasuke sat down then, and elbowed the blond boy in the ribs. "Dobe, he's tailing Sakura today, remember? Yesterday it was the blond and the red head. Today it's Itachi and that guy."

"That's Hoshigaki Kisame," Sakura put in. She didn't want the cool, tall boy to be known as 'that guy'. He had scared off more than one person who had started towards her in the hallway. He at least deserved to be called by his name.

Sasuke just gave her a small glance in acknowledgment and continued to eat. It was then that Ino sat down across from her best friend. There was a fire in her eyes that Sakura had seen several times before: determination. The pinkette only had a small window to enact the plan of distracting her friend.

"I had no idea your brother was in the Akatsuki faction of the police until he showed up as one of my guards this morning," she commented slyly to Sasuke.

At the mention of another Uchiha, Ino's blue eyes scanned the lunch room around her. She spotted the elder Uchiha brother in a few seconds and Sakura saw her plan was working. Her best friend had forgotten all that she was going to say the instant she gazed at Uchiha Itachi. That didn't mean that Ino would never confront her, it just meant that the inevitable had been stalled for now.

Shikamaru sat down beside Sakura and noticed where the gaze of the blond had locked onto. He gave an almost inaudible sigh of 'troublesome' and Sakura had the urge to agree.

Instead, she ate her lunch in silence with a small smirk of victory on her face. She had successfully waylaid the blonde's actions, and that didn't happen very often.

As soon as the bell rang Sakura was off to her fourth period with Shikamaru. They both sat down and instantly noticed that three of the people in the class were 'sick'. That meant that there was about four people who were actually here for class, the pair of them included. The teacher began the class with a frown.

Everyone turned in their coding from yesterday. Sakura had finished in in less than five minutes the night before. She had to keep reminding herself that she had to appear average in this class, especially with the Uchiha watching her instead of the two from yesterday.

The teacher gave her and Shikamaru an A on the assignment. And then he directed them to build another code using JavaScript once again. This time it was up to them to decide what they wanted to code, and Shikamaru just shrugged as if to say he really didn't care what she coded. The Nara could code just about as well as she could, but he was too lazy to ever do it himself. Sakura was fine with that. She really enjoyed coding.

Sakura pretended that the coding took a long time for her to accomplish. Her loops sometimes, 'accidentally', ended up being infinite and her teacher had to show her how to stop the code from 'crashing' her hard drive. By the time class ended she had garnered more than one curious gaze from Shikamaru and Itachi no longer stared at her as if he was piecing together her most guarded secret.

**Which he probably was trying to do. **Inner chimed loudly. **Ever since we 'talked' to him for the first time he's been trying to figure us out.**

_He's an Uchiha. That's what they do. They figure out how you think and then use it against you because they can._

**Ouch. Is that really what you think of the Uchiha's?**

_Yep._

**Sure you do.**

Inner was silent as Sakura entered fifth period Biology. This class was super easy so far. Sakura was one of many who didn't listen as the teacher droned on about cells and how they replicated. Eventually the bell for the end of class rang and the pinkette didn't know who was more grateful, the teacher or the students.

In psychology Sakura learned about the classifications for every stage of growth. Apparently she was in the stage that 'was constantly searching for who she was'. Or, as she 'classified' it: being a teenager. These psychologists must not have had a life. All Sakura knew was that she had no intention of becoming a psychologist when she was older.

**Naw, you'll probably end up getting caught and used by the police for your hacking abilities. At least then you'd be doing something you love.**

_Thanks, Inner, that helped a lot. _Sakura remarked snidely. Although the idea of being caught had already occurred to her. She was already on a list in the Konoha Police Records. It stated that if she was ever captured she was to be offered a job immediately in the faction that most needed her. There was only two other names on the list with her: T1M3ST0P, and another really good hacker by the name of Koori – or Ice. This particular hacker had been her mentor when she was younger. Koori had shown her how to set up her own firewalls with special backdoors that only the pair of them would know about. She had also been taught a lot about coding from her mentor and how to cover her cyber footprints within a system. As far as she knew her mentor had crashed her own computer and gone into hiding. Sakura hadn't heard a word from Koori in just over a year.

The bell for the end of psychology rang and Sakura was out of the room in less than three seconds. It wasn't as if she was eager to continue her stupid art project, the thoughts of Koori always made her mildly sad. Where was her mentor right now? She knew that Koori could handle himself but she still had a right to be worried.

She shoved those thoughts out of her head as she painted. She'd try her best on this painting even though everyone already knew it was a lost cause.

Kisame came up behind her and chuckled as she struggled with it. "Looks like someone flattened her head with a yellow cloth," he commented with a smirk.

Sakura looked over her piece once again and had to agree with the tall man. The woman's face was blanketed with 'hair' that looked more like a cloth and her eyes were puddles of color instead of the grey they were supposed to be. "I can't paint to save my life," Sakura admitted with a smile at the blue-haired man beside her.

He just smirked at her and patted her on the head. Then he went back to standing next to Itachi against the wall behind her.

Sakura sighed with relief when school ended. She was finally released for the first weekend of the school year. Enough had happened this past week already that she was more than welcoming the chance to do absolutely nothing but hack for the next couple of days.

**And don't forget, the level six security firewalls get released tomorrow! **Inner shouted in her mind.

_Yeah. It's time once again to prove that Ryuu is the best hacker currently on the net._

**With the exception of Koori, of course.**

Sakura nodded her head in agreement with her Inner at that thought. But Koori had been semi forgotten by everyone when she had disappeared, and Ryuu had come to the forefront.

She got into her car and headed home with the guys. She began to wonder just how long the two of them would be with her once she reached her house. At least yesterday they had had to leave early because of the meeting with leader-sama. But Ryuu wouldn't be giving them any more information until tomorrow.

_Information I still need to gather. And with these two around I can't do that._

**Just tell 'em you'll be fine on your own, especially when you get back to the house.**

Sakura just sighed as she parked the car in the driveway. She unlocked the front door and let all three of them into the main living room.

Kisame plopped down on the couch with a smile. "Glad that's over. I thought four years of high school was all I needed to endure. Turns out I just couldn't resist going back." He gave her a cheeky grin and a wink as he said that.

Itachi sat down in a more dignified manner on the chair nearest the door. He checked his cell for a moment before glancing back over at the pinkette.

"It seems a colleague of ours is to pick us up at four. Will you be alright by yourself for the rest of the night?" he asked.

Sakura shifted nervously under his gaze for a moment before she replied. "'Course I'll be fine." _I'm not a friggin' child!_ She came very close to saying that last part out loud, but then she remembered who she was talking to.

She discreetly glanced at her watch. It was only 3:12. She had to find a way to survive about another forty-five minutes with the pair in front of her. It kind of made her want to pull her hair out. Kisame she could handle. It was the arrogant Uchiha guy that she could not.

It took several minutes, but the blue-haired man started a conversation with the pinkette. It was mostly about school and where she wanted to go with her life. The unspoken 'if you didn't own the Haruno Company what would you do?' left her on edge. If she had had her choice of college degree (which by now would surely be in business) she would have chosen to major in computer engineering and minor in criminology. This seemed to pique the Uchiha's interest as her ask her questions on her scope of knowledge with computers thus far. He had seen her 'struggling' in advanced computer science class this afternoon so he was giving her some 'tricks' to use so she could get better.

Sakura finally waved as the two of them drove away in a dark green vehicle with their colleague. To be perfectly honest she was extremely grateful that Kisame was Itachi's 'partner' for this endeavor. He had made sure to chase the snobs away from her at school, and to make her feel welcome even with the Uchiha around.

It was then that she remembered what she still had to do this afternoon. She had to look up the link between the victims.

**The police have probably already started working on that. Just hack their computer. Hopefully they have some helpful information this time around.**

Sakura smiled as she pulled her computer out of her school bag. Then she was up the stairs and in her room within a few seconds. She may not have any athletic skills what-so-ever, but she could be scarily fast when there was something she wanted to do.

She popped open the lid and watched as it loaded. And then she was off. Her fingers typed the codes reflexively as she had done this a million times with the same results. The Police Chief's computer screen came up on her own after about a minute of non-stop commands. She smirked to herself. _People never learn. Even with the extra firewall there was nothing stopping me from getting into the laptop._

She used the finder program to look for any documents that she hadn't seen yet that pertained to the case. It seemed that even with the high tech the police had hidden in their building they were still stuck on finding out the last two names for the people who had been at the Sakamoto crime scene.

_They're hopeless._

Sakura found one document that raised her curiosity. It was labelled 'Orochimaru", the same name that had now come up three times. Once with Kabuto, once with Uchiha, and now this. She gave it a moment's thought before she clicked on it.

'_Orochimaru. Gender: male. Height: 1.92 meters (that's about six foot three). Wanted in: Konoha, Suna, Iwa, Ame, and Kiri. Crimes: theft, assault, kidnapping, resisting arrest, murder in the first degree, killing an officer…'_

The list went on for about half the page. Sakura wasn't even sure one guy could do all that. There was no way her family was connected to this guy. None.

Regardless, Sakura saved the information onto her laptop before continuing her search. And she found: nothing. The police hadn't even started a page on the connections between the victims.

_I bet if I hacked Itachi's computer he'd have way more information than this._

**Are you sure that's the reason why you want to hack his computer?**

_What do you mean?_

…**nevermind.**

Sakura resisted the urge to glare and exited the mainframe of the chief of police's computer. Then she started two of her own programs. Technically one of them was an open source program that she had tweaked to fit her needs at the moment. The first dug up all the information on a single person in the census database (an advanced form of her search engine), and the other cross-referenced that information with another person. She was spectacularly proud of her programming skills at the moment.

_At least I don't have to do all of this long-hand. It would suck having to look up and note every little thing that two – or in this case five – different people have in common._

She watched as the two names she had typed in to the searches (her grandmother's and the Sakamoto guy) were automatically being searched for similarities. She figured this would be easier than picking either her parent's or her brother.

**Couldn't you make it so that the programs cross-reference all five of them at the same time? Then you wouldn't only have to search two names at a time.**

_You're amazing, Inner. All I'd have to do is mirror the program coding in the java compiler and add a few pieces of mine own. Then I could link the program to the ones already up. And I'd only have to do that three times for there to be five searches going at once._

**Then get to it. The sooner you finish the faster you have the information.**

Sakura rolled her eyes at her Inner and began her work. She snorted to herself as she remembered the 'tricks' the Uchiha had been trying to explain to her. She had her own tricks, not that she'd be bragging about them any time soon. It would do no good for every hacker on the net to know how to get past her computer security.

Surprisingly the compiling didn't take very long. Even though she had only 'mirrored' the program she had successfully built three new search references in the span of a little under three hours. By the time she was finished, and had the searches going full speed, it was time for dinner. Her stomach was protesting loudly by the time she made it to the kitchen.

She was a little annoyed when she found that her cousin was also using the kitchen at the moment she walked in. Karin was leaning her stomach against the counter and making one of those microwave meals that said they were under two hundred calories. Sakura just glued her eyes to the ground when she walked past the red head towards the fridge. And then she stopped when she saw something she'd never noticed before.

"Karin, is that a tattoo?" she asked cautiously.

Her cousin whipped her head towards the pinkette rather quickly. "Yeah, so. What's it to you?" she snobbishly replied.

"Nothing. Just thought aunt Yuki wouldn't let you get one," Sakura said stiffly. The 'conversation' with Karin was giving her more of a headache than a screaming toddler.

"Well, if you tell her I'll-"

Sakura cut her off right there. "It's just a tattoo, I'm not going to say anything." And then she continued on her way to the fridge. The tattoo had been on the bottom of Karin's foot, which was odd in itself if one did not account for aunt Yuki's hatred of them. But it had also been the shape of a snake wrapped around something Sakura couldn't quite see. She had only been able to glimpse it when the red head had leaned her knee against the cabinets for a couple of seconds.

_That's funny. I thought Karin hated snakes with a passion._

**Well I guess not.**

Sakura let out a small hum as she reached out to grab the left over curry and rice. She was severely glad right now that her cousin always ate those tiny meals from the freezer and not the food she made and stored away for later.

She then waited as her cousin used the microwave for an addition two minutes. Sakura heated up the curry and rice then hurried off to her room with the steaming food in hand. There was no way she was going to miss the moment when her computer found the link between all of the victims.

Sakura sat in front of her computer long after the curry and rice was finished off. It was nearing eleven pm when the link finally showed itself. It wasn't exactly a link between everyone, but it was a similarity between her grandmother, her brother, and Sakamoto-san. There was no way it was a coincidence. And what Sakura found made her jaw drop.

It would be much later, in the early morning, before Sakura got any sleep. And even then, she was cursed with reoccurring nightmares.

* * *

**_Koori is another OC character that I am dedicating to EvansXAlburn and sharkswillruledaWORLD because these two have been reviewing regularly on my story. (I now have 31 followers... XD and I am slowly gaining the means for world domination... yeah...no.. I sorely wish I was.) Please read and review! And this is the best cliff hanger I have done so far... XD I am despicably evil sometimes..._**


	8. Chapter 7

**_And the plot thickens! This is all relevant plot information, EVERYTHING. Just keep that in mind. Anywhooo, some people were annoyed by my cliff hanger last chapter. I'll admit, it was evil. :) But here's the next chapter so READ ON!_**

**_OK! Some reviewers reviewed since the last chapter. GASP reviewers reviewed! WHAT? (alright, it's midnight and I'm a little loopy...) But here are the people that reviewed: lovebound111, stargazing-sweetie, Haipa Ookami, CrisStarTina, and silverwolfigther00. Thank you all for your comments! _**

**_Now, a little Hacker lingo in this chapter (just a heads up)..._**

**_Black Hat: an evil hacker, someone who hacks and destroys other people's property or leaves viruses inside systems for the fun of it._**

**_Grey Hat: an in-between type hacker. They may do some bad stuff, but they are not as horrible as the Black Hat faction (in the real world most hackers are Grey Hat ones, about 90% actually)_**

**_White Hat: hackers that hack into systems to improve the system security. They're few and far between in the real world (only about 10% of hackers in the real world are Black or White hat... the others are Grey Hats)_**

**_And there you have it. I like to think of Sakura as a Grey Hat hacker. It makes writing about hacking so much more fun when she can be good or evil with her hacking skills._**

**_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. If I did then the Akatsuki wouldn't die... _**

**_~Façade-sama_**

* * *

Sakura was aware of three things when she awakened from her nightmares. One: it was a Saturday. Two: the level six firewalls came out today. And three: Uchiha Itachi had probably already known the connection between the victims and was laughing at her stupidity. She should have ransacked his computer for evidence by now, but her thoughts had been otherwise occupied by horrid memories.

_Yakushi Kabuto. That scum of the earth._

The sole connection between her grandmother, her brother, and the Sakamoto murder had been that one man. And who was that man's guardian? Why, Orochimaru of course.

Kabuto had been about the same age as her brother. In fact, she had met him once or twice. But he had been using a false name for several years, and only the brilliance of Sakura's computer had pinged the correct name on the search program. Sakura was kicking herself for not checking further into his current background story. Apparently his alias had left Konoha not two days after her family was murdered, and Kabuto just 'happened' to be caught on tape as his real self with the cameras near the Sakamoto murders.

His alias, Kudo Satoshi, had been an acquaintance of her brothers that had slipped her mind until now. He had helped her brother with his homework a week before the murder.

_He probably got a good look at the house layout at that moment._

**That scum!**

_We'll get him back for it, Inner. I bet he'll become somebody's lap dog in jail when we send him there._

**You mean he'll become somebody's bitc-**

_Yes Inner. _Sakura cut her off. _Watch your language._

Sakura returned her attention to the information regarding how her grandmother had come to know Kabuto. The head of the Haruno Company had had an appointment with him not three days before she was killed. There was no audio, but Sakura had been able to pull the surveillance cameras in the conference room so she could watch the proceedings.

It started with a formal handshake, and ended with her grandmother's angry gaze and Kabuto being shown out of the building by the security guards in the hallway. If only Sakura could read lips, but she was not advanced in that field. However, perhaps the Akatsuki had someone who could do that. The pinkette decided to save the camera files for her talk with the leader of that faction later that evening.

Sakura stumbled down the stairs and into the kitchen for some much needed sustenance. After a night like she had had there was no better way to recharge than with food. She quickly made the preparations for jasmine rice and chicken satay. It may not have been much of a breakfast food, but right now the pinkette didn't really care.

Karin wandered in as the rice was cooking. Sakura was slightly surprised by the fact the red head was even up at this hour – it was 7:32 am – because Karin tended to sleep until noon on weekends. Especially during the school year when the weekends were the only times to sleep in.

As usual the pair ignored each other. It was an awkward twenty-five minutes until the pinkette's food was ready. By then Sakura was ready to pull her own hair out from the tenseness of the silence coating the kitchen.

She ended up just taking her food back to her room to avoid Karin as much as possible.

_And to get more work done. I still need to figure out the 'why' in this equation. Why did my family and Sakamoto-san get killed? For every crime there's a reason._

**Just set up an extensive background search on Orochimaru. You already have the equipment to do so.**

_If I do that then I'll know everything about him down to the last shred of information. His police record was already gross enough._

**Stop being a baby. If you want to take this guy down then you'll need to know everything he's capable of, even if it means you'll have to wade through the grossest information known to man.**

Sakura knew that Inner was right. _I'll have to check Kabuto as well. It seems he's a highly valuable piece of the puzzle._

**What are you planning now?**

_If I told you then where would be the fun in that? You'll just have to wait and see._

Sakura ate her food quickly once her newest plan crossed her mind. She had no idea if she'd have guards today – not that she wanted them on a Saturday – but she needed to at least get this plan started as soon as possible. She began the background search on both Kabuto and Orochimaru using the mirrored coding she had completed last night. All she had to do was tweak it so it no longer cross-referenced every bit of information it found. And it worked like a charm. Sakura would know everything Orochimaru had been up to by the time this search was finished, and that was only because she may or may not have added a bit of hacking tech to the search engines.

The pinkette heard the doorbell ring about five minutes into her search. She peaked out the window and spotted the same car that had picked up Deidara and Sasori the other day.

_Shit._

With precision and skill only learned from excessive practice, the pink haired female quickly hid her current project behind a wall of code set to look exactly like her computer background image – an artificial picture of the earth from outer space with the moon hanging right behind it. She had had to perfect this move when her parents had tried on more than one occasion to see what she was doing. It was luck that she had figured it out before they had burst through her door. And she was extremely happy she had refined and tweaked the technique into a single coded batch file that only needed a few words on command prompt to set it off. In no time she had all of her stuff covered up.

Sakura heard male cursing and a shrieking Karin from the doorway. The Akatsuki must have sent another pair of 'Karin-worthy' guys. She could practically hear the pick-up lines the red head was trying on the two. And of course they weren't working at all.

"Get the hell out of my way, bitch!" A masculine voice yelled from down the stairs. "Where's Sakura?"

Said pinkette sighed as she opened her door. Looks like she was getting that creep known as Hidan. The voice was the same as the guy she'd seen in the Akatsuki meeting two days ago, the one with the silver hair and creepy eye color. The one she may have taunted, just a little bit.

Sakura walked down the stairs to the living room. Karin was blocking the end of the stair case with her body, trying to keep the two men inside the living room with her. Sakura just lightly tapped on her shoulder to get her attention. "Karin, thanks for keeping them company while I was waylaid in my room," Sakura said overly sweetly to her obnoxious cousin. The two males trying to get by her looked relieved that the one they were to guard didn't have the same personality as the red head.

Karin scowled but let Sakura pass. Then she stormed up the stairs and slammed the door to her room loudly.

Sakura was left in the living room with two Akatsuki members she had almost no knowledge of. _At least I know one of their names already._

"I'm Hidan, pink-bitch. And this bastard is Kakuzu," the silver-haired guy intoned none too nicely. He actually looked rather put out that he'd been placed on guard duty today. His partner was very odd as well. There were several stitches covering his face and Sakura was not going to ask whether or not they were real.

"As you already know, I'm Sakura," she answered with a bit of ice in her tone. It was better if they knew she wasn't a push over like Karin. "Obviously I don't have school today, and I usually spend Saturdays at home anyway." _Actually, I code random stuff and wreak havoc on computers in Suna and Iwa on lazy days like this. But I can't exactly do that today because of the other things I need to complete. But it's not like I can really do that with them here. Unless…_

Hidan huffed in annoyance. "What're we supposed to do then, pink-bitch?"

Sakura was none too happy about the nickname she had garnered from the creep. "Watch movies I guess. We have a ton. Just go through them." Sakura pulled open the drawers on the cabinets beneath the big-screen TV seated in the living room. Most of them were horrors because Sakura had gotten tired of Karin's collection of chick-flicks. "I'll be upstairs. We can go out for lunch or something around noon."

And that was how the pinkette escaped her Akatsuki guards for at least part of the morning. As soon as she got back to her room she was connecting to the Hyuga Corporation servers for the latest on the level six firewalls. At the same time she was running the searches on both Orochimaru and Kabuto. Sakura was just grateful that the searches weren't impeding her computer's speed at all.

The pinkette took about fifteen minutes to locate the area that the new firewall version had been placed around. She was unsure how she missed it on her first sweep, it was like she had overlooked a bright yellow sign on the road. But there it was. Her computer was processing the newest inputs since the last version and she found three more walls and a trick loop used to boot out lesser hackers. There was also the deceptively open back door, but it was more like a spring. Any hacker who tried to use that would end up kicked out of the system faster than they could get a single code off. It was absolutely brilliant.

Sakura's computer picked up a signal from another hacker in the vicinity. Someone else was trying to hack the same new firewalls she was. It was a matter of pride now. Only the first hacker to successfully get through would be the one to take credit for it. And Sakura wasn't about to lose.

_Wait! I know that hacking style!_

Sakura took a single moment to assess the striking pattern of her opponent's hacking. There was only one person who had the text-book hacking style she was witnessing now. _But his skills still won't be enough to overload the computers with the firewalls and break through._

Sakura pinged the computer of her opponent with her watermark before she booted him out of the system herself. There was no way she was giving up the chance to be the first to break down the newest segment of firewalls erected by the Hyuga Company. And she was especially not losing to that stupid Uchiha.

The pinkette's fingers coasted over her keyboard. Program after program launched at the cyber wall in an attempt to overload the system keeping it up. All Sakura needed was a small opening in the armor and she'd be in. Just one small break in the cyber bricks of the firewall.

_There. That part of the firewall is fraying. I guess the coding wasn't yet up to par with the rest of the wall. I think someone needs to know about that. After I've done my own experiments of course._

**You're evil. Keep going!**

Sakura laughed as she broke into the system and patched the hole behind her. Where was the fun in breaking in if she couldn't exploit the system like she had the last time?

The pinkette opened up the web camera on the first computer she found on the system server. It was one of the programmers in the Hyuga main building. She could see the rows and rows of programmers in the cubicles behind him all taking orders from him. He had shifted his computer so that the other programmers could 'see what [he] had done to complete the firewall'. And, of course, Sakura couldn't help the chortle of laughter that ensued from that idiotic statement. It was obviously his little piece of the firewall that had frayed so terribly and let her through. There was no way this programmer was as good as his credentials said he was.

**Stop snooping into his files!**

_Aw, you had to ruin all the fun. I was having a nice time hacking without you. In any case this guy needs to be taught a lesson in programming. I have just the thing too._

Sakura's fingers let out the string of code that all the big businesses had come to hate. She had altered the coding only a little from the last time she had used it, but it still had the same basic premise: an angry anime face would appear on the screen with a 'You Suck!' underneath two thumbs down. Following that there would be glitches in several of the computers hooked into the same server as the computer she had taken over. And they would all show the same picture for about thirty seconds. Finally, after the initial shock of being hacked had settled over the person(s) they would receive a small explanation of what was wrong with their protective firewalls as well as the watermark of her logo 'Ryuu' with the background of a black dragon. She usually sent a few words explaining how she patched the system as well just to ensure no one else could get into the system the same way she had. The only one who had ever been able to get even a little past her defenses was her apprentice (and Koori, of course).

Sakura sat back and watched as her program took effect on the poor guy's computer. Apparently he had seen it before, because he launched into a stream of profanities longer than Sakura thought possible. By the time the program was showing her watermark there were several important-looking individuals at the desk of the computer she was still controlling. They had black suits on and the intimidating glares of those who have to be taken seriously.

The taller of the two males began trying to counter-act her complete control over the computer. She had fun poking at his attempts to get it back. It wasn't every day that she got to mess with someone so knowledgeable about the Hyuga systems. Usually she left that to her protégé. He seemed to thoroughly enjoy rampaging around the systems of big name corporations even if it was after she had broken him into the system. She considered the 'breaking in' his lesson, and the rampaging his 'have fun' time. It still worked pretty well when both of them where having a horrible day.

Sakura waited until the guy stopped trying to get the computer back. Then, just as he was standing up, she changed the image on the screen from her hacker handle to the feed from the web camera she was watching. The 'important people' now had a completely live feed of themselves freaking out.

Deciding she had had enough, and it was nearing eleven in the morning now, Sakura printed out a small report on the reason she had been able to get past the level six security firewalls, how she'd patched it up, and a small side note on getting a better head programmer for the firm. The programmer who Sakura had recommended be replaced stared at the printed information with a slack jaw. It seemed that this guy was not used to being told his skills sucked.

_But they really do. There's no getting around it. He has no place in a network security firm if his programming can't stop a single attack._

Sakura paused before she left the system. The programmer was arguing with the two important executive people now. It was rather funny to watch – and know it was also being watched by the people making the racket. She spotted a small piece of paper being held up to the web camera so she could read it. It was a note from one of the executives.

'Ryuu-san, thank you for your input. My associate and I have agreed to compensate you for your time if you agree to do a complete system sweep for us. The notes you have already given us on the current situation with our newest firewall program have been rather impressive and we would be grateful for the same critical eye on the rest of our servers.

-Hyuga Hiashi'

Sakura stared for a moment at the note before smiling widely.

**You're gonna do it? Where will they send the money? It's not like you can accept it as, well, you!**

_I'll have to set up an offshore account for this. Just think, Inner, my first job as Ryuu. If the Hyuga Corporation has noticed my skill then maybe other companies will as well._

She typed out a message on the screen for Hyuga Hiashi and his friend. 'I accept. You will have the report on your personal computer by this afternoon, Hiashi-san. And I expect a consulting fee for my cooperation.'

The man who had shown her the note nodded his head in satisfaction over the agreement. They both knew that if either decided not to do what they had said they would there would be hell to pay. _He'd discredit my name faster than I could breathe. And I would tear apart his system so quickly not even a legion of hackers could get back the information for him._

Sakura glanced at the clock beside her with a sigh. It now read 11:24 am, and Sakura had promised to go out to eat with those two Akatsuki guards at noon.

_Hey, Inner, think I can do a full system scan in under an hour?_

**Sounds like a challenge. I bet you could if you got to it right now. It's not like you don't have programs that can discern faulty codes. That one you built last week should do the trick for you.**

_Good idea. And while my program runs the system scan of the Hyuga servers I can take those two Akatsuki officers out to eat just a little earlier than we planned so I have time to get back here and make my report for Hiashi-san._

**Don't forget that you're also running the full background searches on Orochimaru and Kabuto. Plus you still have to compile the information for the meeting with Akatsuki later tonight.**

_There seems to be no rest for the weary._

Sakura stopped her talk with Inner as she began the scanning programs. She'd made them undetectable and untraceable for a reason. And it seemed that they'd be redeeming themselves today. Sakura had had a tough time making the programs because most of the ones she'd made searched and destroyed faulty code so she could patch it thoroughly with good coding. A simple scan could be done by most any software on the net, but Sakura had made hers more in depth than any scanning software available. It literally looked at every code and traced the threading back to the source. If one 'thread' of code was constructed wrong, Sakura would know in a couple of hours.

The pinkette placed a coating of her 'concealing' codes over the operations taking place on her computer. Then she shoved her computer in her bag and walked out her doorway. There was no way she was leaving her computer in her room, where anyone could access it, while it was doing something so important.

She found the two Akatsuki members – Hidan and Kakuzu – lounging on the couch in the living room watching her collection of the TV series 'The Walking Dead'. Even Sakura had to admit that, for a television show (especially one about zombies), it was interesting.

Sakura paused the TV and stood in front of it with a small smirk on her face.

"What are you doing you pink-bitch?" Hidan complained loudly.

"It's lunch time," Sakura intoned icily. "I said I'd take you out to eat. And now I am." She had pulled a black hoodie on over her dark t-shirt, and she had matched it with a pair of nice, dark skinnies.

Hidan groaned and got up. Kakuzu just looked over at her. "Are you paying?" he asked in his surprisingly deep voice.

Sakura glanced at the pair before smirking. "Yeah, I guess so." She was in a good mood after the happenings of this morning. It's not every day that you get an offer while you're hacking someone.

**Not every day, indeed. This is your first one.**

Sakura ignored her Inner as she got into her car. And then she had a sudden thought that caught her off guard. _Hey, Inner? Now that I'm an official hacker – at least now that I'm getting paid for it – am I a white hat or a black hat?_

**Well, you did break into company servers for the fun of it. But you always left behind a list on what to improve on. Though I wouldn't put you in the white hat section because of your destructive tendencies, I also wouldn't place you in the black hat category because you help companies.**

_Does that mean I'm more of a gray hat then? I'm not entirely a black hat, but I'm not a white hat hacker either._

**Guess so.**

Sakura hummed to herself in thought as she proceeded to drive the three of them to a small barbeque place four blocks over. She pretended to listen as Hidan ranted about 'leader-sama' and how 'Uchiha Itachi is an ass' and several other things. At least the two of them could agree on something. Itachi was an ass. There was no denying it. And Sakura could just picture the expression he had had on his face when he realized she had kicked him out of the Hyuga server earlier. Of course, he didn't know it was her, but it still would have been hilarious.

It was nearing 12:45 pm by the time the three of them had finished their lunch. Sakura was all too happy to let the two of them finish the marathon of 'The Walking Dead' when they got back to her house. She had had enough of Hidan's foul mouth for the afternoon.

She quickly extracted her computer from her bag to check on how the sweep of the company servers was going. Sakura was pleasantly surprised to find the scan nearly finished, and the search engines she had had running on Orochimaru and Kabuto were finished. The pinkette couldn't decide which one to go over first. She was more than sure that both of them were equally nasty, so it stood to reason that both of their files would be none too pleasant to peruse.

Sakura decided to go through and summarize the most important information of each of the suspects to hand over to Leader this evening. It took her an hour to get through both, with a break in between to process what she had learned. The pinkette was right when she had expected the files to be gross. There were several times when she felt bile creeping up the back of her throat as she was looking into Orochimaru's files.

Once she had finished with the data, the pink haired girl happily saved the word documents she had compiled and moved on to the more interesting part of the afternoon: the Hyuga servers.

In all there were 43 servers connected to equally numerable routers in the Hyuga main building. While she had been wading through data about the scum of the earth, her computer had been performing the necessary unravelling and scrutinizing of all the coding going into the firewalls and security structures used by the company. Not a single server forgotten in the screening.

Sakura was fairly surprised with the amount of faulty coding in the system servers. _Apparently having an inadequate head of programming means that nearly half of the servers have crappy security measures._

**No kidding. For a network security company they have horrible security.**

_Wait. Something's wrong here. With the credentials I found on that guy he should not have been this bad._

**You saying this was done on purpose? Why would anyone do that?**

_Just think about it. _Sakura went to server number 24. It had the highest damage done out of all the other servers, and it was also a door into the heart of the company. The highest offices routed their computer access through that server. It couldn't be coincidence. _This is sabotage, Inner. The head of programming was doing this on purpose. But he was clever, very clever. None of the current software on the market would have detected this type of damage. After all, only a hacker can detect another hacker's trail._

**So who would want to sabotage the Hyuga Corporation?**

Sakura wanted to face palm at the idiocy of her Inner. _Obviously a competitor. I mean, who else would gain from such a move?_

The pinkette went to work on her report about the Hyuga system servers. It was rather pitiful that a _hacker_ had to tell the company that their head of programming was a fake. She went on to assess the damage done to the servers and how best to fix them, as well as recommending which ones to fix first (obviously servers 24 and 31).

As she finished off her report Sakura quickly read it over for any faults. She had two misspellings, and she frowned at the inaccuracies. However, all the information was correct and she was eager to send it off to Hyuga Hiashi. She sent with it the offshore account in which to drop her funds. It only had about a hundred dollars in it right now, but after the consulting fee was placed inside she'd have at least fifty thousand.

She was startled out of her reverie by two very loud knocks on her door. Karin never knocked, so that left the other two current occupants in the house. Sakura quickly pulled up FB with a small command prompt code.

"Come in," she said with a small smirk.

Hidan and Kakuzu opened her door, but neither made a move to enter the room. It seemed for all his foul mouthed behavior, the silver haired male still had a bit of gentleman kindness within.

**Or he just doesn't want to enter your room…**

Sakura ignored her Inner and turned to face the pair of Akatsuki males. "Hey, pink-bitch! Kakuzu-bastard and I are taking off. It was real fun today, pink-bitch! Maybe we'll see you again!" The silver-haired guy hadn't even let her get a word in before he was back down the stairs and out the door. Kakuzu only gave her a nod before he followed his friend.

_Those two are just…odd._

**Yeah, well. It's 5:43, you ready to give your report to leader?**

_Not really. The information I have is kind of disgusting. I mean, who even thinks of doing half of what Orochimaru did?_

**Don't forget Kabuto, the guy's right-hand man. He's just as horrible.**

_Yeah, well, it's probably best to get this over with. Don't you think, Inner?_

**Yep.**

Sakura, having saved the Uchiha's last IP address, only had to search for about five minutes before she found the location of his laptop. They were using the same place as before, a small warehouse near the ports of Konoha. She hacked the microphone, the web camera, and pulled up a word document in record time.

The pinkette could see no one directly in the line of sight for the computer. Half-in and half-out of the frame was blond hair that could only belong to Deidara. Other than that, the laptop had been placed to face a long, rectangular table with five chairs on either side. Sakura waited patiently for someone to notice that she had already commandeered the computer. And it didn't take long.

Three minutes later a face popped in front of the screen making her squeak in surprise. "Hey, Deidara-sempai, Tobi found a word document of Itachi-san's computer! Isn't Tobi a good boy?" Sakura giggled a little at the childishness shown by the boy. He had to be about Deidara's height, but he wore an orange swirl mask with a single eye hole. Said blond turned around so his face was half in sight of the web camera.

"Tobi, don't do that, yeah!" he scolded as he made to pull the boy's face away from the computer screen. "We have to wait for the other members, yeah!"

By this time a few of the 'other members' had started to trickle in and take their seats. Sakura spotted Sasori seated by Deidara, as well as Itachi and Kisame sitting on the opposite side. It took Hidan and Kakuzu an additional few minutes because they were coming from her house, but Sakura also saw a blue-haired lady and a plant-like guy as well as the red headed man she had conversed with before.

"Ryuu-san, sorry for the wait," the deep voice came from the red headed leader for the Akatsuki faction. He was seated at the chair directly on her left. "You have yet to meet all of our members, but it wouldn't surprise me if you already know their names."

Sakura smirked at that. Of course she had looked into the Akatsuki faction on the police files. There was a profile on all the current members, and she could probably name them all by now. Meeting six of them was kind of like cheating though. But Sakura was happy with the fact her skill was being acknowledged. So she typed her reply:

_Yes, I am already familiar with the names of your current members. No need to introduce them all._

The red head only smirked and nodded. Then he continued. "For those of you who don't know already, we have been aided on the Haruno and Sakamoto serial murder case by a hacker known as Ryuu." He paused to gaze for a second at each of the people in the room to make sure that they were listening. "Tonight, Ryuu has information regarding the link between all five of the victims." His eyes swept to the computer screen expectantly.

Sakura saw all nine pairs of eyes lock onto the word document she had up on Itachi's computer. It was kind of intense to know the investigation now rested on your information. Regardless of her nervousness, Sakura began her explanation.

_I ran a search on all the victims, cross-referencing any and all experiences they had had in the past few months, and I came up with a single name: Yakushi Kabuto._

Sakura heard some cursing, namely from Hidan, before she continued.

_Kabuto had used an alias to get close to the eldest son, and heir to the Haruno Company prior to the murder of the Haruno family. He was also seen in a board meeting with the Haruno CEO, and was spotted via surveillance camera outside of Sakamoto-san's apartment the evening of the murder. However, with Kabuto's track record there was no way it was his own plan._

_I dug deeper into the life of Yakushi Kabuto and came across another name that seemed to pop up frequently: Orochimaru._

At this more than one person in the room had either turned pale (Deidara) or gotten angry (Hidan, Kisame, and Itachi). Sakura smirked at their reactions. At least she was a hundred percent correct in her assumption that they knew a lot about Orochimaru.

_When I went through his past I found all sorts of horrid things. I will be sending the full report of my findings to you in a moment. They include, but are not limited to, abduction, assault, mutilation and desecration of grave sites, murder in the first degree, attempted child molestation, and several other things. I find it highly likely that Orochimaru orchestrated the murders of all five victims._

There was complete silence in the room for more than a few moments as the information sank in. Then Hidan had to ruin it. "Damn! This bastard figured it out faster than we did."

Leader shot Hidan a reproachful glare. Then the red head turned to the computer. "It had also come to our attention that Orochimaru should be the prime suspect. Will you help us track him down?"

_Unfortunately, I have something else I will be looking into. I trust that the Akatsuki faction can find Orochimaru just as well as I could._

Sakura saw annoyance flash through the eyes of the leader. Apparently he had not been openly denied things before.

_However, _Sakura continued, hoping to smooth over the rough conversation. _I will send a program to Itachi-san's computer that helps track people via surveillance cameras. It is something I have concocted myself, so it cannot be found anywhere on the open source market._

It took a few seconds, but the leader of Akatsuki nodded in agreement.

_I will update you on any new information in two days' time._

And then Sakura left the system, automatically sending the reports on both Orochimaru and Kabuto to Itachi's computer as well as the newest version of her camera tracking program. She also sent the board meeting recording to the laptop. _Someone there probably knows how to read lips. _She guessed.

Inner was quick to ask questions about the conversation.** What is it you'll be looking into? I thought you figured out all you needed to know…**

Sakura grinned at her Inner. _I still haven't figured out the why. For all the crimes he's committed Orochimaru had a reason, a motive, whether it was money or simply revenge. But killing five innocents, people he hasn't even met, means there has to be a reason._

**The guy just seems sadistic, but I'll believe it when I see it. Knowing you, you're probably right. I just hope we never have to meet the guy.**

_Don't jinx it, Inner._

* * *

**_Mwahahahahaaa, and another chapter finished... With this chapter I make the story over 30,000 words long. YESH! (and I now have a total of 42 followers...I can't wait until I get to 50!) XD_**

**_Also, just a side note: I absolutely hate the f word. I don't know why, I just do. I have absolutely no problems with the b words, the s word, or the d word. It's just the f word. So I'm sorry if Hidan seemed a little weird, but I didn't want to bleep out all the times he says the f word... please comment your thoughts (if you have any on this matter) because I want to know if my Hidan portrayal is a little too OC... :(_**

**_~Façade-sama_**


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